Roses and Ice
by crystalessence
Summary: Ruby Rose has always dreamed of attending the famous Beacon Academy. Her dream was to become the very best and prove herself to her peers, but then She met Weiss and her whole world was shaken to its core. WeissxRuby. Will be Alternate Universe for the most part. Rated M for graphic torture in chapter 12. Can skip to chapter 13 if you wish. Thanks for reading!
1. Chapter 1

**Authors note: This story is going to be AU take on the world created by the wonderful folks at Rooster Teeth productions. That being said however I will try to incorporate as much as I can from RWBY while at the same time retaining this stories integrity. Also this will ultimately be a RubyxWiess fix so if you don't like don't read. Finally I Hope you enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ruby, Weiss or any of the other Characters from RWBY all ideas related to the show belong solely to Rooster Teeth Productions. **

** Preface**

_"The world we live in is a one of Darkness, it is cruel and unforgiving. Some choose to pretend that these elements of daily life simple do not exist. Those among them are content to go about their daily lives oblivious to the great wonders of our world. However while these few choose to ignore the Danger of our world we choose to face it head on. We are the first and the last line of defense, we rage against the darkness, beating it back to the far corners of this world. We must be vigilant for if we fall our race will be doomed once more into the dark. We are the Guardians, the Hunters and Huntresses who keep back the dark"_ (Excerpt from: _From Dust We Come: A Introduction into the life and legacy of The Hunters and Huntresses by Josef Rader'). _

_**Chapter 1: Good Morning Beacon Academy (one week after Initiation)**_

'_Where is it where is it! Oh no I had it last night and I can't find it!' _ Ruby Rose thought as she frantically tore her bedroll apart, packing and repacking searching for her lost item '_oh dear God what if I left it out somewhere, what if someone got a hold of it! What if….she somehow ended up with it?, Alright Get a grip Ruby take a deep breath I'm sure it's around here somewhere everyone still asleep just be quiet and look around for it. Maybe check the pillow case ag-'and_ then she caught a faint silvery glint out of the corner of her eye. Following her gaze her eyes came upon the glittering cover of her lost book. She heaved a heavy sigh of relief which instantly caught in her throat as she realized that her diary keeper of all her secrets was cradled in one of her sister's arms.

"Yaaaaaaannnng!" Ruby exclaimed not bothering with stealth anymore. When Yang's form remained motionless save her quiet snoring Ruby huffed in annoyance, if there was one thing she would never understand it would be her sisters' almost superhuman ability to fall asleep anywhere and anytime and stay that way until someone was unlucky enough to awaken her. Rising from her own packed bedroll Ruby crossed the room, ignoring the glares of the other groggy Academy students (whom unlike her sister were awoken by her shouts and who were now angrily tossing their own disgruntled mumbles and gestures her way before they rolled over and returned to their slumber ) she marched straight towards her goal coming to a stop just above the outstretched form of her sister. Despite her rage Ruby had to admire the relaxed way in which her sister slept, arms and legs splayed in odd directions while the one that held her diary stayed tight to her chest, her mouth hung open a small drizzle of drool _'Ew!' _was falling down the side of her face to join the lake of its peers next to her long blonde hair. Utterly unconcerned with the fact that over thirty people were laying within spitting distance of her, and utterly unaware that her sister was glaring daggers at her.

As Ruby stood over her sister fuming she suddenly had flashes of her childhood growing up with Yang, all the times that she had unwittingly awoken her expecting her normally sweet sister and instead coming face to face with a very angry and incredibly agitated grizzly bear which, when she was little, Ruby and claimed had been some sort of demon that taken her sisters form. "um maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all" she whispered, however as she became aware of the fact that this might actually be a very bad idea she saw a small smirk appear on her sisters still sleeping face. _'Well all good things must come to an end best to just do it and get it over with she deserves it for pulling something like this'' Ruby_ crouched down next to her sister ready to give another yell as she placed a hand on the book praying that if she moved fast enough she could get the book and be halfway across the castle before Yang realized what had happened.

Taking one last shaky breath she cried out "Yaaann-" only to be interrupted "Ruby!" she froze as the terse whisper cut her off. That cold tone and accent… after a week of trudging through the woods with the owner of that voice she could recognize it instantly and her bones chilled as her heart began to skip. Shakily Ruby lifted her gaze from her sister's face and into the Blue eyed terror that stood fuming over top them. Giving her best sheepish smile Ruby tried to be friendly "uh he Hey Weiss how's it hanging?"

Weiss who stood there in her ice blue nightgown and bare feet didn't say a word instead her frown deepened and somehow her eyes got even colder and when she spoke her words sent chills down Ruby's spine "do you have any idea what time it is?" Ruby froze as she sent a shaky glance at the clock that stood in the center of the room '_Oh Shit it's that early?" _she then began to realize what she had mistaken for sunlight was in fact bright beams of moonlight. Ruby's heart began to beat faster asshe suddenly felt even smaller under Weiss's cold stare. Chuckling weakly she tried to smile up at the young women who seemed to both excite her and simultaneously make her cower in fear when she was angry. "um well you know what they say the early bird catches the worm hehe heh" She said realizing instantly she had made a mistake as Weiss leaned in so their faces were only a few inches apart sending her heart to pound even harder. Weiss's hate filled blue eyes held Ruby's fear lined silver for what seemed like hours before Weiss finally broke the silence. "You. are. so. dead." and with these words Weiss talked Ruby knocking them both into the sleeping form of Yang.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 **Good morning Beacon Academy part 2**

Weiss was, to be frank, having one hell of a week. First Ms. Goodwitch refused to even consider her request to transfer to another team, actually her exact words were "_Ms. Schnee frankly I don't care who your father is, you have to follow the rules just the same as every other student, you and Ms. Rose are teammates for the remainder of your time here at Beacon I suggest you get used to." _The audacity of the women upset her but unfortunately she saw little other choice in the matter. Following that pleasant conversation she had to deal with over five days of general introduction classes always being forced to sit next to that dolt Ruby Rose. Every single day her frustration grew with the young girls seemingly endless enthusiasm and constant pestering which kept them from actually accomplishing anything in their classes. Weiss had even begun to worry that her teammate might actually drive her insane. She had spent most of the previous night trying to think of a strategy that might get the girl to finally start acting like an adult. It seemed Weiss had just barely forced herself to asleep when a sudden shout had awoken her. "Yaaaannng! '_you have got to be fucking kidding me' _she thought groggily immediately recognizing the voice of Ruby Rose.

Weiss sat up from her bedroll anger already boiling in her stomach as she watched Ruby marching across the crowded room towards Yang's sleeping place. Glancing over to the clock on the wall something in Weiss snapped, anger simmering just below her surface, she stood and walked to stand over the crouching Ruby just as she seemed to be about to yell at her sister again. "Ruby!" Weiss whispered tersely. What followed in the next few seconds was hazy to the point that all Ruby's words were barely muffled mumbles to her ears as throughout their interaction Weiss could only remained focused on Ruby's embarrassed smile which serviced to enrage her further, '_I. have. Had. It.' "_ . " she said, and with that her last bit of control vanished and without thinking she sprung forward, knocking Ruby to the ground.

"Hey! Weiss common what's the big idea!?" Ruby shouted surprised by the sudden weight that now pressed upon her chest as she hit the ground with a soft "oof". Weiss placed her hands on Ruby's shoulders and held her down anger releasing in a flood as she spoke. "What's the big deal? You have the Audacity to ask me what the big deal is. The big deal is that you are the most immature person I have ever met and if you don't grow up you could drag both of us down with you!" That stung but Ruby quickly put Weiss's words behind her as she began to feel movement under her...Yang '_**Oh shit oh shit oh shit we are so dead if she wakes up to us fighting' **_she thought as Weiss bore down on her again putting her face so close that Ruby could feel her cool breath on her face "I-Im sorry I'll try and do better " Ruby said in a whisper hoping that she could get Weiss to calm down before her sister woke up. However judging from Weiss's face her words had done nothing to placate her. "You keep saying that" Weiss said matching Ruby's volume "but it never gets any better, I would have switched into another team if I could but I cant so were stuck together so promise me that this time you will stop trying to prove yourself or whatever it is you think your trying to do and just do as I say."

Ruby blinked in confusion, she had become distracted by the feeling of Weise's heartbeat against her chest and had checked out of the conversation as she lost herself in the rhythmic beat while she fought to keep her own heartbeat under control and to keep the blush off her face. '_Oh wow she's really warm and come to think of it not as heavy as I expected not saying that I thought she was heavy or anythi-, wait Ruby what are you thinking snap out of it' _ When Ruby came back to her senses she realized she hadn't heard a word Weiss had said. Weiss was looking at her expectedly not moving apparently expected her to say something she nervously racked her brain hoping to find some memory of what Weiss had been saying she vaguely remembered her saying something about a promise but a promise to what? "Uh I-I promise "she said shakily hoping that's what the woman above her wanted to hear.

Weiss nodded satisfied '_maybe I've finally gotten through that thick scull of hers' she_ thought as her anger subsided and she sat up it was then she began to realize that if someone were to wake up and see Weiss straddling Ruby atop her sister that they might get the wrong idea "Good, im glad we got that settled now let's get up and-" sudden movement underneath them caught Weiss off her guard and her balance and sent Ruby and herself toppling off Yang and rolling over one another on the floor coming to a stop with Ruby on top of her, momentum causing their faces to come together and their lips to meet.

Yang hated being awoken from her slumber, it was no small feat for someone to wake her up before eight in the morning but God help the poor fool who was responsible. One occasion when her and Ruby were just little kids, Ruby had awoken Yang from her mid afternoon nap and as revenge Yang had held Ruby down as she Poured an entire bottle of maple syrup onto her little sisters hair. However when Yang awoke from her sleep ready to bring all the wrath of hell down on whoever had awoken her she couldn't have predicted the sight that greeted her as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes to see her sister Ruby straddling Weiss Schnee and from where she sat she could clearly see that their lips were connected. They quickly pushed apart both at a loss of words as they stared right at Yang unsure of what to expect. Yang starred back at them both for a moment and then as her anger and annoyance dried up a wide smile began to stretch out upon her lips as excitement bubbled up in her as she blurted rather loudly "Awwwwwwwww! This is soooooo Cute! I never knew you had it in you Little Sis to melt the Ice queen, I am so so so Proud of you!"

**_Authors note: Heya Folks here's chapter two of my story! I tried to fix some of the grammar issues, I know its not perfect but I can only get better with time! please leave a comment and let me know what you thought and please give let me know what I can touch up on. thanks and I'll see you next time!_**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 misunderstandings **

"**A Hunter or a Huntress must always be on their guard for the unexpected can and will come whether it be on the battlefield or in their own hearts, and when it does we must be ready and willing to move with our instincts and ride that wave lest we fall to it and let ourselves be swallowed by the dark" (Excerpt from: From Dust We Come: A Introduction into the life and legacy of The Hunters and Huntresses by Josef Rader').**

Ruby gasped as she and Weiss toppled over, Yang's sudden movement catching her off guard. They tumbled to the ground rolling until Ruby was atop Weiss and that's when it happened. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Weiss's face came closer as they rolled to a stop, Ruby's heart began to pound faster and harder than ever before. Then when their lips collided and everything stood still, both far to shock to react or pull away, Ruby felt electricity course through her entire body from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. '_This is way different than I expected' _Ruby thought as she fixed her shocked eyes on the equally shocked Crystalline blue that were so close that they took up almost of her vision. '_Wow this is way better then I imagined' _she thought dreamily however it was then that her brain caught up with what had happened '_I-I Kissed Weiss! Oh my God oh my God! What do I do? Should I Pull away? She isn't, Why isn't she pulling away? Could it be that… no how could she like someone like me?' _she thought frantically. That's when her sister made her presence known "Awwwwwww this is soooooo Cute! I never knew you had it in your little sis to melt the Ice Queen, I am so so proud of you!" Ruby's heart leapt in panic as she and Weiss pushed away from each other, a blush appearing on both their cheeks.

Ruby felt out of breath, tired even, as she turned to face the smiling bright eyed form of her sister and gulped. "Yang this isn't what it looks like" she said breathlessly her eyes pleading. '_But oh how you wish it was Ruby' _She shook her head violently to clear the unbidden thought from her brain '_now is not the time to think about this.' _ Despite her objection Yang's smile remained "Sure it is little sis, don't worry I can keep you little smooch session a secret" she said with a laugh mirth clear in her eyes. Ruby huffed and then glanced over to Weiss who had been silent throughout this exchange, she sat on the floor seemingly in a daze as she stared at the floor her mouth agape her breath heavy and her eyes…was she crying? Ruby felt her heart sink and crash into the ground, shattering into a million pieces '_oh Gods she knows it was an accident right? Did she get hurt when we fell? Does she hate me even more now?' _Ruby then took in the fact that Weiss was shaking a little bit and worry caused her body to seize up unable to breathe. It was then that she noticed that Yang had unfortunately noticed Ruby's gaze shift from her to Weiss and turned her own mischievous eyes onto the shaken Weiss. '_ Oh Goddess please don't say anything please please my sister means well but she's as subtle as a werewolf in a china shop ' _Ruby prayed silently, The Goddess however apparently had told Ruby to suck it because the excited words that poured from her sisters mouth were far from tactful "what's the matter Weiss? My sister too much woman for you to handle?"

It was with Yang's words that Weiss broke out of her daze, Her eyes flew up to meet Yang's no longer clouded no longer tearful, but burning with anger. "Shut. Up." she said, her voice barely a whisper "there is nothing of the kind between me and that immature sister of yours" her voice was cold and rough and what she said tore another hole into Ruby heart. Weiss pushed herself wiping her sleeve across her face to remove the remaining tears, before turning from Yang and walking stiffly away. It was as she was passing Ruby when she stopped and looked down at her Ruby raised mournfully up to meet her eyes and was surprised to see no anger or revulsion not even the cold smugness that she had grown accustomed too, rather it was pain something Ruby was quite familiar with seeing and..something else, something softer yet Ruby couldn't quite put her finger on what. Weiss stood for a moment before saying curtly "remember what we talked about, I'll see you in class Ruby" and with that she was gone leaving Ruby and her sister Yang, who was scratching her head in confusion, alone.

Ruby pulled her legs up to her chest and huddled against the wall. She laid her head on her knees as she tried to keep the tears from coming as hurt pulsed through her body. Yang blinked for a few moments then seeing Ruby's state she quickly went to her and gently wrapped her arms around her "hey" she said softly being careful to not awaken anyone else lest they see her sister in such a state "wanna tell me what that was all about Hun?" the pet name did its job as a Sniffling Ruby leaned into her sister and proceeded to tell her what had just occurred, leaving out how she felt when Weiss's body had been pressed against her afraid that Weiss still within earshot across the crowded room might hear. Yang to her credit remained silent throughout the tail realizing just what her misunderstanding of the situation had caused. When she finished Yang began stroking Rubys hair, something she used to do when they were kids to comfort her whenever they heard their Mom and Dad fighting in the next room. "So" she began hesitantly "you went through all that just to get your diary back?" Ruby nodded and sniffled again, Yang kept going "I am so sorry little sis I should have put your diary back once everyone was asleep" Ruby glared at Yang "you think that makes it ok that you stole it?" she said sharply pain fueling her sudden outburst. Yang blinked again and then smiled suddenly "oh you thought I stole it? Like id do that in a room where you could get at me easily, nah you left it out when you went to sleep Weiss was walking back from the bathroom and I think she tripped on it man she looked pissed, I think she was going to wake you up to tell you to watch where you put your things but then she picked it up and started to flip through it when I realized that it was your diary I ran over grabbed it and told her off, honestly I'm surprised you didn't wake up with how light you sleep." Ruby's heart froze…Weiss had read her diary? Oh God what if she had read what she wrote the night before? No she couldn't have, if she had Ruby doubted with Weiss's outburst earlier that she would have hesitated to throw something like that in her face. She looked up at her sister "Thanks I guess for protecting it and not going through it yourself" Yang started to laugh " you think I would pass up on a opportunity like that? Nah I read that thing cover to cover, so is it true do you really have a big humongous crush on our little Ice Princess?" Yang's comment got its desired result as Ruby momentarily forgetting Weiss's hurtful words, grabbed a nearby pillow and bashed her sister over the head "_shut up shut up shut up!" _Ruby yelled as she talked her sister and continued to beat her with her pillow as Yang's laughter rang out slowly waking everyone around them who turned towards them to see the commotion. Thoughts swirled inside Ruby's head _'she could never like someone like me' _and her mind plagued her with one thought '_but what if she does'_

Weiss's heart was pounding in her chest at an uneven rhythm, she felt a tingling sensation on her lips and worst of all she couldn't stop thinking '_why are you reacting like this? It was a kiss and an accidental one at that' but_ no matter how hard she tried as she walked back to her bedroll to get dressed, sleep was a lost cause at this point so she might as well get some early morning training in down in the exercise room and work off some of this confusion, she couldn't stop replaying the feeling as Ruby's lips had collided with her own, it had been as though someone had poured fire into her veins. She hadn't felt something that strong or something that real since…. No she wouldn't think of her, like she had immediately after the kiss, again lest she burst into tears again and she couldn't afford that while everyone seemed to be waking up, she would wait until she got somewhere private. Weiss got to her bedroll and began to grab her things before heading for the showers without looking at or speaking to anyone. Walking into the empty shower room with its white tile resounding silence she quickly stripped stepped under one of the heads and as the steaming water fell she broke. Tears fell down her face mixing with the hot water that poured down on her cleansing her, comforting her, her body shook from silent sobs as she tried to pull herself together. After all that had happened with Aria… she stopped to catch a wail in her throat at the thought of the women who had once been everything to her, after what had been done to her, no after what Weiss had let happen to her, she couldn't let herself get attached again, couldn't let someone get hurt because of her ever again. As she mulled over this she thought back to the night before when she had been walking back from the bathroom only to pick up what, after reading a few pages, could only have been Ruby's diary she remembered the dread and surprise that had filled her replacing her initial annoyance when she read those final words before Yang had appeared and taken the book from her. Those words haunted her kept her up most of the night an inner turmoil which she finally managed to get control of when Ruby 's shout had awakened her but those words had awakened something in her that she hadn't felt in a long time it had awoke her longing to be loved.

"_After everything I just can't seem to get her out of my head even after the hours of relentless picking and prodding I just can't make myself stop thinking about her or for that matter stop dreaming about her. _Well_ that's it I guess I can't fight it anymore, despite her prissy attitude and despite that she makes no secret of hating me I Ruby Rose for some Goddess forsaken reason am undeniably in Love with Weiss Schnee" _

_**Authors note: Whew! That was hard to write but I had to cover some ground before I began work on the next Chapter, a little heads up since the labor day weekend is over it'll probably be a couple days until I post the next chapter so I tried to make this a little longer than my usual 1000 words to make up for it and I'm aiming for an even bigger one next time. Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful reviews I am so glad to hear you like my story and I hope you continue to enjoy it as we begin to move forward. Thanks see you all next time!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4 The Damn Bursts**_

It had been two days. Two agonizingly long days since that morning and ever since Weiss had acted as though nothing had happened. Well that wasn't entirely true Ruby contemplated, Weiss hadn't said anything about what had occurred but she had been acting different from what had been her usual day to day harassment of Ruby's character. Now Weiss seemed almost…nicer in a way. While she still scolded Ruby every chance she got there was not as much malice in her words and little to no anger in her eyes. The development of their relationship had shifted from incredibly antagonistic to almost mild annoyance overnight and Ruby couldn't for the life of her figure out why. Ruby had even caught Weiss sneaking glances at her when she thought Ruby wasn't looking then quickly turning away when Ruby turned to face her a faint blush on her cheeks. '_What the hell is going on? Is she still upset about what Yang said? No that can't be it I highly doubt she would pass up the chance to chew me out for something Yang said in fact come to think of it Weiss hasn't said all that much in the past couple days. Oh no what if she upset about the kiss? Oh god I can't even think about it without blushing heck who am I kidding I can't think about her without blushing either. But again there's no way shell ever like me like that" _Ruby's thoughts went on like this for a while and continued to circle as she sat quietly between her sister and her teammate Blake as she had every day that they had eaten in the Academy's spacious cafeteria. Ruby glanced around again trying to find Weiss in the crowd and again failed, Weiss hadn't shown up yet again for lunch.

"Ruuby hellooooo earth to Ruby" the always bubbly voice of her sister broke through her reverie and had her blinking dumbly at her sister for a few moments before she could collect herself and reply shakily "wha Sorry Yang what were you saying?" Yang laughed as she reached up and mussed up her sister's hair "What's wrong silly daydreaming about Ice Queen again?" she said as she winked knowingly. Ruby jumped as though someone had put a live wire to her skin "heh me daydreaming about Weiss? Psshhh no way I mean not that it would be a bad thing if I was- I mean its not like I have super-duper humongous crush on her- I mean ill just stop talking now "Yang collapsed into laughter and even Blake managed to crack a smile before she could say something though a sudden crakiling filled the cafeteria as the loudspeaker roared to life and Glenda Goodwitch's voice came on "Attention all first year students, your dorm room assignments have finally been arranged and posted on the main ballroom floor. These rooms will be your homes for the duration of your stay here at Beacon. Your personal items have already been taken to your rooms, thank you for your time and enjoy your afternoon off." As Ms. Goodwitch's voice faded the crackling of the loudspeaker being replaced by the sounds of forty or so people standing and making their way to the stairs that lead to the main ballroom. Ruby thankful for an excuse not to continue the Weiss conversation bolted towards the door to join her fellow students.

Ruby had a sudden sinking feeling as she climbed the steps as a sudden thought occurred to her 'what_ if Weiss and I Have to share a room? She probably will kill me in my sleep for all the trouble I've put her through. Especially after I made her cry' _Ruby shuddered as she remembered the tears that had run down Weiss's face after their accidental kiss _'Please oh please Goddess don't let me be roomed with her let me just have my own room to call my own." _It was quickly turning out that the Goddess had some sort of vendetta against Ruby because as she reached the tall white paper that had been tacked to one of the central pillars she saw that each person was roomed with their team mate and about halfway down the list she could clearly see that it read, _**Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee Moon Dorm room number 8. **_Well crap wasn't that just great Ruby felt as though someone had tossed a ton of bricks on her back, this was it there would be no avoiding Weiss in her free time anymore they were effectively living together for the next four years. Ruby felt all her emotions bursting through her chest as she let out a primal howl of defeat. Yang glanced up from her lunch obviously in no hurry to check the room assignment list and glanced to Blake who was flipping through a pages of a book "hey Blake" she asked Blake looked up to meet her eyes with an annoyed stare at being interrupted before replying "yes yang?" Yang gestured above them to the main ballroom "Did you hear something? Blake sighed and shook her head before returning to her book. Yang shrugged "guess it was just my imagination" she said as she returned to devouring her lunch.

Weiss stood stalk still in the center of her dorm room as she took it all in. The room wasn't terribly big but it could easily fit two people comfortably enough that they might move about without the worry of constantly bumping into the other. It was equipped with two small twin sized beds, one for either side of the room, each decorated with a comforter of unique designs and as luck would have it one was white and the other was rose red. Weiss paused he examination as she looked upon the red thoughts of a certain Red headed female swirling around inside of her head. '_get a grip Weiss what would your father say if he knew you were fawning over another girl after what happened last time?' _ Weiss smirked at the thought '_come to think of it he probably wouldn't give a damn if he thought it would make me forget why I hate him so much' _She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly letting all the tension and angry thoughts leave her body. Looking around the room once more she took in the Red walls and the fine wooden floor '_well a plus for making it feel like a palace " _She thought mildly before sitting on the White covered bed getting a feel for the soft mattress, laying back she closed her eyes and before she knew it she was hovering in that hazy space between awake and asleep.

It had been a rough couple days, after her shower Weiss had gone straight to the training room and stayed there for several hours and when school started she had done her best to avoid talking to Ruby as much as possible not because she blamed her for the kiss but because she didn't, in fact she felt absolutely no malice towards Ruby but ever since that morning she had seemed less annoying then was usual. What scared her even more was when in their Dust class Ruby had accidently inhaled to much of the potent dust and had put on a repeat performance of when they first met, this time though Weiss hadn't gotten angry, to be honest she actually thought Ruby's face was hilarious and had been forced to cover her mouth to avoid letting Ruby see her smile. '_what has gotten into me?' _opening her eyes to stare at the ceiling even after all that had happened with Aria after swearing shed never let herself love anyone again here she was swooning over a girl she had barley known for two weeks and had hated for most of that time. It didn't help that Ruby actually looked so much like Aria, the hair was shorter and her voice was a bit higher but beyond that they were almost carbon copies of each other which was part of the reason that she was so hard on Ruby. Weiss remembered when she first met Ruby she had just tripped over her luggage and as she stood there yelling at her Weiss's heart began to ache as each second she started seeing the similarities.

Weiss rolled to her side and brought her legs up to her chest as the familiar ache made itself known 'why_ is this happening again, wasn't I hurt enough after last time?' _she thought tears welling up and she began sniffling. Suddenly the silence of the room was broken by an all too familiar voice "Weiss? Are you ok?" Weiss tensed up as what little color she had left her face, _'Ruby'_ and the Damn holding back her emotions broke.

Ruby was good at many things, kicking monster ass, fighting with Crescent Rose, and Drinking milk to name just a few but there were some things that she just didn't know how to handle, and crying women was definitely high on that list. Ruby had walked into the dorm room and had been surprised to see that Weiss was already there and laying on one of the beds sniffling. Ruby had approached her, moving slowly so she would avoid startling her, her heart beating violently as pity and worry for the poor girl in front filled her. When she had spoken the last thing she would have expected was for Weiss to give her one look before collapsing into sobs. Ruby stood their stunned for a moment and then she began to panic as she started to rack her brain trying to find something, anything that might help in this situation. '_oh uh come on Ruby think you can't just leave her here, what would Yang do if I was like this?' _ Suddenly she got an idea. Ruby moved to Weiss's side and then seating herself on the bed Ruby reached over and pulled Weiss's shaken form to her. Ruby felt Weiss's body tense up under her touch but as she gently rubbed her back she began to feel that stiffness leave her. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief as she continued to gently rub Weiss's back '_wow that actually worked'_ she thought amazed by how simple the solution had been. After a while Weiss's sobs had collapsed back into sniffles and that's when she did something Ruby would have never expected, Weiss sat up and unfolding her arms from her chest she actually put them around Ruby pulling her much closer and into a odd sort of hug, Weiss then put her head into Ruby's shoulder and continued to sniffle. Now it was Ruby's turn to stiffen as the unexpected gesture processed in her mind as warmth seemed to spread thorough her body from Weiss's close proximity to her. '_wow for an Ice Queen she sure is warm' _ this thought made her smile as she looked down to see that Weiss no longer had her face buried in her arm rather those crystalline blue eyes were staring right back up at her. Ruby began to feel her heart skip under Weiss's gaze her mind going blank, everything to disappear, everything but the hypnotic pull of Weiss's eyes which were bleary and full of emotion.

Weiss starred up into Ruby's eyes unsure of what to do next. She felt an odd sort of calm fall over her as she lost herself in those silver eyes full of concern and question. Weiss realized that she had been a fool, every day she had fought against this young women simply because she looked like Aria. Never once did she even consider giving her a chance but despite everything she had done to hurt Ruby here she was comforting her while it would have been her right to throw everything back in Weiss's face and mock her weakness but no here she sat comforting and giving support to a girl who to her knowledge absolutely loathed her. "I- I'm so sorry Ruby "she said her voice breaking as tears threatened to overtake her again " I don't deserve your forgiveness but please know that I am so sorry for everything that I've done for you " Weiss expected for Ruby to leave her at any moment, to turn away from her and laugh at her attempt at reconciliation but that moment never came instead Ruby leaned down to place a soft hesitant kiss on Weiss's forehead before saying "Everything stands forgiven Weiss, Everything" This simple mater affect acceptance of her apology shattered something in Weiss, her emotions overtook her again and tears poured freely down her face and she clutched Ruby's familiar robe tighter. How could she have been so selfish as to turn away someone who all they wanted was to love her and be there for her '_I can't believe all this time I've been pushing someone so sweet and kid away from me' _she thought. Weiss didn't know when she decided to do it but in the next moment she had reached one of her hands behind Ruby's head and started bring to their faces grew closer together while her other hand raised to Ruby's face, her fingertips just barely brushing her soft skin .Weiss's body began to shake with nervous anticipation, her heart pounding so loud that she could barely hear. All the doubts that had plagued her for the last few days all the unwarranted malice that had been directed at Ruby suddenly seemed to vanish as Weiss felt Ruby's hot breath wash over her face. Then their lips met and her Whole world went white.

Ruby couldn't believe this was happening, countless times she had fantasized about this moment but she had never expected for it to actually happen no amount of imagination could have prepared her the almost electric charge that seemed to course through every fiber of her being as Weiss's lips met hers. Before she could truly enjoy the kiss however a voice toar its way into Weiss and Ruby's world

"wow Yang wasn't kidding you two really are all over each other" both Weiss and Ruby immediately pulled apart freezing as the saw the unmistakable form of Blake standing in their doorway. Both Weiss and Ruby immediately jumped to their feet and simultaneously shouted curses at Blake as they pushed her from the room before closing and locking the door behind her. They sat, backs against the door, for a moment, both trying desperately to catch their breath. Ruby looked at Weiss expecting her to have retreated back into her shell but was surprised to see she was grinning. "We should really lock that door next time" Weiss said and Ruby's heart skipped as excitement coursed through her like caffeine, she nodded hurriedly her mind a slew of thoughts that all boiled down to 'she_…she wants there to be a next time?! YESS! Score one for Ruby!' _

Weiss leaned her head back against the door as her heart finally began to beat at a normal rhythm again. Glancing at Ruby she found that she regretted nothing about the kiss and that itself was a delight to her, however she realized that if she wanted this she was going to have to open to Ruby about the danger that will undoubtedly come about if she chose to be with Weiss.

"Ruby before this goes any further we need to talk' Weiss said barley above a whisper Ruby's face flooded with concern and panic to which Weiss noticed and quickly replied "hey I swear I don't regret what just happened but…It would be unfair for you if you got into this without knowing about Aria" Ruby's face shifted from concerned to confused "uh whose Aria ?" she asked her puzzlement clear in her voice. Weiss paled which Ruby noticed and immediately moved to embrace her again. There in the comfort of Ruby's arms Weiss took one last shuddering breath before beginning her story.

"Aria was my best friend, my first love… and I killed her"

_**Authors Note: Hey everybody! So I surprisingly found a ton of time to write this last night and this morning so here it is a day early then I expected! Thank you so much for all the Favorites and Follows it means so much that people actually want to read my story. I hope you enjoyed this story thus far and I hope you have as much fun reading this chapter as I had writing it. For those who were asking Aria is one of the Only OCs that will be in this fic and we'll be touching on her story and her relationship to Weiss next Chapter. Also Please Review if you can, your reviews help me to continue making improvements to this story as well as make it more enjoyable to you. Well that's it for me the I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and Ill be back with the next chapter on Friday!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5: Shattered **_

"_Get yourself Comfortable this is kind of a long story. Alright let's start from the beginning, I met Aria Rader when I was fifteen years old. I was at one of the many functions held at our family's home that my Mother and Father had forced me to attend. Something about keeping up appearances and such they told me."_

_**2 years earlier Schnee Estate**_

Weiss politely excused herself from a uncomfortable conversation with one of her father's business associates and walked briskly towards the long banquet table that her family's servants had set up to hold various refreshments on the far side of the main ballroom. Upon reaching table Weiss let out an annoyed huff as she began scanning the table for some sort of alcohol to dull the pounding headache that always seemed to plague her after one of her Fathers coworkers tried to either hit on her or be especially nice to her at these events. Finding none she decided to duck out through one of the terrace doors and hide in the garden rather than face Mr. what's his face Business exec again.

Weiss walked and kept walking until the sounds of the party became faint whispers upon the night air. She came to a stop at the base of the large fountain that stood in the center of the garden and seated herself next to it. '_Finally some peace and quiet' _She thought with relief releasing a breath she hadn't realized shed been holding. It wasn't that she disliked the parties themselves, in fact she had always enjoyed the preparation, the music, and of course the dresses however it was the people that her parents always invited that she absolutely loathed. Almost no one was close to her in age and those who were always acted as though they needed to be on their best behavior or even worse they would try and show off to get her affection and if there was one kind of person Weiss hated more than anyone it was a showoff. Before she could continue her thought a sound began to ring out over the silence of the garden. The sound was unmistakably a woman's voice and to Weiss's surprise it was singing.

"_Mirror, tell me something, tell me whose the loneliest of all"_ The voice was beautiful, soft like the tinkling of bells yet it carried a power the likes of which that Weiss had never experienced. Weiss stood turning as she did, and found herself face to face with one of the most beautiful woman that Weiss had ever encountered. She stood at equal height with Weiss and their hair length was the same but where Weiss's hair was snow white this woman's hair was a dark red. Weiss stood frozen completely enthralled by this woman's beauty that she didn't notice that the singing had stopped. Then yellow eyes met blue and a series of events that neither girl could have predicted was set into motion.

**2 years later Beacon Academy.**

''If only I had turned and walked away, maybe if I had she'd still be alive today, happy and free of having had the burden of being connected to the Schnee name." Weiss said bitterly turning her head into the pillow of the bed to hide her tears. Ruby was not deterred however and she was quick move closer to Weiss enveloping her in her arms "Hey it's okay what's past is past" she whispered her heart aching for the poor girl in her arms "you don't have to continue if you don't want to." Weiss sniffled and shook her head before laying it on Ruby's chest.

"Thanks Ruby I mean that, but if I don't do this now I don't know if I'll be able to come back to it again" She said her voice heavy and thick with emotion. Ruby said nothing and began stroking Weiss's hair as she waited patiently for her to continue and after a shaky breath she did.

"She introduced herself as Aria Rader, she was the daughter of head maid of one of my father's business associates. The wife of the businessman had taken a special liking to Aria and her mother and thus they both were allowed to attend these company parties with their employers. I was immediately taken in by her easy laid back approach to everything and that's probably one of the reasons that I fell for her so quickly, no one had ever been that well.. Open and honest with me, with everyone else it felt as though they were all walking on eggshells so as to not upset the boss's daughter but not her not my Aria. We fell in love and for a while life was good, we spent as much time together as possible, when she was there with me my world felt complete and when she was gone it felt like nothing else had any meaning.. Those few months with her where some of the best of my life. My happiness wasn't destined to last very long, about a year later everything fell apart"

**1 year earlier Schnee Estate **

** "**What do you mean she was kidnapped?!" Weiss shouted at her father dumbfounded at the information. Her father sighed annoyed with how his daughter was reacting to the matter. "Yes Weiss that's what I said, Kidnapped and taken it would appear by a group of eco-terrorists." He said in a matter of fact tone as if he was simply speaking of a business dealing. Weiss felt her heart break how could this have happened? She couldn't think of why out of anyone in the world terrorists would kidnap the daughter of a maid. '_oh but you do Weiss think about it' _a voice in the back of her head spoke filling her with dread as she begun the realize why exactly someone would go to the trouble of kidnaping the daughter of a maid '_she was in a very close and very public relationship with the Heiress of the Schnee Dust company, a company known for their illegal and immoral business practices.' _ Weiss's throat tightened at that thought making it difficult to breathe her mind began to fracture under the stress as she spoke "No... No you're lying, this is some kind of cruel joke that you're playing on me! Well I hope you got your laugh Father because the Jokes over."

The head of the Schnee Family sighed again and gestured to the large View screen that took up a good portion of his private office. "I wanted to keep this from you for your sake, but you have forced my hand in the matter Weiss" he said his voice flat, as he spoke he pressed a button and the View screen crackled to life. Weiss turned to the screen and gasped as her heart lurched in her chest as every fiber of the being begged that what she saw wasn't real. The view screen depicted the grainy image of a dark nondescript room with little furnishings save a chair that was in the center of the room. Upon that chair sat the blindfolded and gaged form of Aria Rader. The only other person in the room was standing next to her, he wore a long white cloak and a black fedora which masked most of his face. Before Weiss could say anything to her father the man began to speak.

"Greetings Fredric Schnee Owner and CEO of the Schnee Dust Company. For years your Company has been responsible for a great deal of pain and suffering in all corners of the world, this reign of terror is at an end." The man paused before gesturing to Aria "we know that this girl has a special significance to your daughter and if you wish to see her unharmed then we demand that two crates of pure unrefined Dust along with the corresponding crystals, be transported to the old White Castle on the seventeenth of this month. There we will trade the Girl for the Dust. To ensure that you do not try anything we also demand that your daughter Weiss Schnee be the one to deliver this parcel to the exchange and she must come alone. If you try to inform the police, or if you try to double cross us than I am afraid that the Girl will cease to be of use to us and we will have to….terminate our investment." With that the view screen cut to black.

Weiss sat motionless for several moments her thoughts racing before taking a deep breath and nodding "ok so what now?" Her father jolted with surprise at his daughter's question "what now? What happens now is that we take this to the authorities and let them handle it" Weiss shot up from where she had been sitting outraged "Didn't you listen we've got until the seventeenth which by the way is tomorrow night! We've got to hurry getting that much together won't be an issue i-" it was her Father's turn to react violently this time "NO!" he yelled slamming his fist down on his desk "in all my years of running this company not once have I ever given into the demands of such thugs and this will not be any different!" Weiss felt her own anger begin to bubble to the surface as her face tightened into a scowl "are you seriously suggesting that we let the girl I love die because you are worried about how it may affect your Image! I will not-""SILENCE!" Weiss froze at her Fathers outburst, she had only seen him this livid once or twice before and never had his anger been directed at her. "You are my daughter and you will obey, if this fling of yours has to die then so be it! Your duty is to your family and to this Business and you will Obey"

Weiss merely stared at her father, hatred and anger flooding her, ever since she was a child he had been ordering her around and controlling every aspect of her life and now he was trying to take away her only source of happiness in the world. She knew deep down that she couldn't allow something to Aria not at her expense. Her emotions bubbled and swirled until finally they broke the damn of self-control and her next words broke the chains that had held her "Go to Hell" and without waiting for his response she turned heel and ran out of the room.

** 1 year later Beacon Academy**

"What happened then?" asked Ruby asked as Weiss paused in her recollection. She didn't want to push her but, well Ruby's curiosity was starting to get the better of her. Weiss looked up from Ruby's Chest meeting her eyes for just a moment before looking away once more saying "I ran, I resolved that if my father wasn't going to help me save Aria then I would have to try and save her myself. I went to my room to retrieve Myrtenaster and some money for travel and then I was on my way to White Castle."

1 **year earlier White Castle**

Weiss stared up at the foreboding structure that stood before her the cool night air making her wish she had grabbed a coat before making her escape from her home. Glancing at the moon the muttered a simple prayer to the Goddess for strength before pushing open the heavy door and stepping inside. The door opened up into a grand hall, large skylights allowed the moonlight to cast strange shadows upon the dusty floor, straight across from her under the large glass depiction of the Schnee family crest stood a large statue of a knight, most likely a depiction of some Hero of old, and next to it stood the man in White who was smoking a cigar. Weiss walked silently forward before coming to a stop in the middle of the hall.

The man in white shook his head sadly as he tossed the cigar "am I to assume that Daddy didn't want to pay up?" he said not sounding upset or disappointed. Weiss nodded stiffly which elicited a heavy sigh from the man "and let me guess you're here to try and attempt to rescue your girlfriend anyway" again Weiss nodded. Then man in white shrugged and tapped his cane against the Knight statue "Well have at it then princess". Weiss's eyes widened in surprise as the whole statue began to move and fall to one knee before bringing its massive helm to meet her gaze, and for a moment she became very afraid but all it took was the thought of Arias face to steel her resolve. Weiss planted her feet, straightened her back and brought her rapier to bear.

The next few moments were a blur in her mind, she lost herself in the dance of battle. She let her guard down only once and it nearly cost her an eye, but as blood flowed down her face she became even more enraged and after delivering several swift attacks she channeled Her Dust into unbreakable bonds which held the horrible knight in place long enough so that she could deliver the final blow. Sweet relief filled Weiss as the Knight came crashing down with a groan disintegrating as it hit the ground until nothing was left she had done it . Suddenly relief was replaced by unmatched horror as she noticed human form laying in the Dust that had made up the Knights body. There laying amongst the remains of the enemy lay the unmoving form of Aria Rader.

**Authors Note: You cannot imagine how relieving it is to finally get to this point. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, thank you all so much for reading. Please leave me a review and please feel free to give me some constructive criticism every little bit helps me to continue writing better chapters for you to enjoy. I hope I was also able to Answer some of your questions in this chapter and if not let me know what questions you have and I'll do my best to Answer them in the future. Anyway Thanks for reading! See you all next time take care!**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter: Heavens gift to me**_

A deafening silence filled the dorm room as Weiss finished her tale. Ruby scratched her head as she tried to understand what Weiss had just told her. "So" she began hesitantly "Aria was the knight the entire time, how is it even possible that she would attack you if you two were so close?" Ruby regretted the words immediately as Weiss turned her tear filled eyes up to Ruby. The Voice that followed caught Ruby off guard, it sounded like Weiss's voice but devoid of the strength and command that she usually attributed to Weiss's voice it cracked and broke several times while she spoke. "she had been injected with raw dust…to much dust, that much power without the focusing power of a crystal or the training to control it causes-" Weiss paused as she caught a sob in her throat before she continued "it causes the user to go through a violent outburst as the Dust releases itself in any way it can and its ultimately fatal…if I had fallen instead of her Ruby" her voice hitched her throat but she soldiered on"….the Dust would have literally tore her apart from the inside until she was nothing but ash." During the end of her explanation Weiss's tone had gone from choked and pained to emotionless recounting. The tone reminded Ruby of the tone in which she would recite the answer to a question asked of her during a class lecture.

Ruby hated that she felt so useless, unable to say anything to comfort the poor girl who lay against her. She couldn't imagine the pain that Weiss had endured when she realized that she had killed the only person in her world that actually seemed to genuinely care about her, and this made Ruby's heart ache. Suddenly and idea flickered into her head '_of course! If that worked for me there's got to be some chance that it will work now for her even if it helps a little'. _"Hey Weiss? Would um well" Ruby blushed as she realized what she was about to ask then taking a deep breath she forced the rest of the sentence out before she could change her mind "would it be okay if I sang you a song that my mother used to sing to me? " When Weiss simply stared up at her face holding minor surprise. Ruby felt her face grow even redder as she tried to stammer an apology when Weiss interrupted her "o-ok"

Ruby stopped mid apology and looked down at Weiss "um are you sure? I won't if you don't want me too" she said nervously Weiss nodded her assent again curiosity coming into her pale blue eyes and a blush of her own appearing on her face as she said "I would…like you to sing for me Ruby please?" How could Ruby Refuse? With a silent prayer to the Goddess that she wouldn't mess this up Ruby closed her eyes began to sing.

"_Heavens gift to me just the way you are, a new aged child from a distant star. It feels so good just to be so close to your love, you are heavens gift to me. "As_ she sang Weiss felt some of the pain caused by the dredging up of her past begin to slip away as she became entranced by Ruby's gentle voice. '_Wow I didn't expect her to have such a beautiful voice' _Weiss blushed as she thought this thankful that Ruby's eyes were closed. "_There's so much in life for you to see, and so much to be, you are heavens gift to me'' _Weiss felt her eyes begin to drop, a yawn escaping her as the emotional exhaustion caught up with her. With her last bits of consciousness Weiss cuddled into Ruby's chest letting her warmth envelope her and before Ruby could finish Weiss found herself sliding gently into sleep.

Ruby reopened her eyes just in time to see Weiss succumb to exhaustion and felt pleased that the Goddess had finally decided not to fuck her over. Bowing her head Ruby gently pressed her lips to the top of Weiss's head before finishing the lullaby in a whisper as a smile spread across her face "you_ are heavens gift to me..._sweet dreams Weiss...I love you" and with that Ruby closed her eyes once more and tightening her grip around Weiss she allowed herself to fall into the gentle embrace of sleep as well.

**Moon Dorm Room 9 Aka Yang and Blake's Room**

Yang laid out on her bed relaxing, it wasn't often that she wasn't moving around and doing something of some sort, so she treasured these few moments when they came. She was flipping through her sisters diary (which she had nicked again for the hell of it) reading the most recent entries about her sisters Ginormous crush on the Schnee girl. '_You would think with how often I read this thing Ruby would stop keeping it around' _she thought giggling at drawing her sister had made under her last entry of her and Weiss holding hands in the middle of a clearing in a forest full of snow…well that's what Yang thought it was a picture of. Picasso her sister was most certainly not.

Yang's exploration into her sisters secrets was interrupted as Blake walked into the room carrying a stack of books so high that it towered over her head "wow are you really going to read all those?" Yang asked sitting up. Blake's response was muffled by the books in front of her face, Yang screwed her face up into a confused frown "you're going to do what with a sledgehammer?" before she could say anything else Blake seemed to sway under the weight of the books as she tried to call out a retort and soon she came crashing into Yang knocking them both into a tangled pile on the floor.

Yang sat dazed "Ooh look at the pretty butterflies" she said before collapsing on her back passing out soon after. Blake huffed with annoyance and tried to stand only to find that Yang's weight kept her in her place '_she really needs to lay off the sweets' _she thought irritated. After trying to shake Yang awake to no avail Blake heaved an even bigger sigh before rummaging around the pile of books for the largest tome, and once she had found her prize she picked it up '_might as well get too it, doesn't look like I'm going anywhere for a while' _she thought as she gleefully cracked open the tome and began to read.

_**Authors note: Hey everybody and Happy Friday! I hope you enjoyed this Chapter as much I enjoyed writing it! I really like writing for Yang, it's so much fun and being an older sibling myself I've got to draw on. Also a little fun fact the song that Ruby sings is actually what inspired this story, bonus points to you if you can guess what it's called. Finally the Next chapter is going to take a few days to write due to some family things I have to help out with but fear not it shall be done come Tuesday if not before. Alrighty that's it for me please Review and let me know what you liked or what you didn't like. Have a great Weekend everyone see you next time!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Patience and Grace**

_The Dream was always the same_**. **_Every time she closed her eyes she would find herself back in-side of that castle, she had just vanquished the knight and she could still remember how confidence and pride seemed to roll off her in waves as she sheathed her blade. Feeling as though she had finally done something worthy of Aria's praise. Now however Weiss just wished she could leave, leave and run as far away from this accursed place. However Weiss could do nothing to stop what she knew was coming, she was merely a spectator to this old nightmare._

"_Alright whoever you are, you've seen what I can do and I will do worse to you unless you return Aria safe and sound." Her voice was met with silence. Weiss remembered how she had been confused by the lack of response, now she just begged and pleaded with her body not to move, not to turn around but of course it was futile after all she was very much a prisoner in her own body as she carried out the same actions of that night. Weiss steeled herself as a small weak cough caught her attention and she began to turn._

_Nothing could ever prepare her for what she saw, and no matter how many times she saw the naked, bleeding, and bruised form of Aria laying in a fetal position on the floor, she could never stop the heart stopping terror that had filled her. "Aria?!" she cried as she ran to her loves side forgetting all caution but she knew that she was already too late. _

_Weiss was soon kneeling down to scoop her in her arm. Weiss had immediately recognized the signs of an extreme Dust overdose. (What she hadn't told Ruby was the way a Dust overdose deformed a human's body). Large multi-colored boils covered Arias body, several of which were broken open and were quietly hissing as the contents poured forth and started to erode the skin around them. Arias once beautiful red hair was now a dull brown. One of her bright yellow eyes was missing, in its place was a one of the largest boils on her body, and it was leaking the corrosive ooze down the left side of her face. Weiss began to wail as she clutched Aria to her chest, her own blood falling down her face and onto the floor to mix with Aria's. _

"_W-Weiss, please don't cry" a small broken voice called out to her. But something was wrong, that voice….it wasn't Aria's. Weiss looked dumbly down at the disintegrating girl in her arms and felt her heart drop even farther as the face that looked back at her belonged to non-other than Ruby Rose. Weiss shook her head in disbelief as the girl attempted to smile her face twisting unnaturally due to lose of half her facial muscles._

"_I'll be okay Snowflake don't worry about…me its. Just a scratch" Ruby's smiled one last time before one good eye slid closed and she let out a pained sigh before her heart began to slow and finally stop. Weiss watched horrified as the young girls skin faded from white to grey and finally to black before her body fell became ash before her eyes. _

_Weiss sat there for a moment Ruby's ashes covering her as her heart began to fracture and shatter "No" she whispered then louder "No not Ruby!" soon enough all the pain she felt melded into her cries and she screamed._

Ruby awoke with a start at the sound of Weiss's scream. '_The hell!?'_ she thought dazed as she reacted purely on instinct, her hands searching frantically for Crescent Rose amid the early morning light. The fog that clouded her mind cleared instantly when her fingers instead connected with Weiss's face and she immediately noticed the fact that the white haired girl next to her was crying. Without thought she pulled Weiss into her arms stroking her hair and back as she did so.

"You…were you were dead!" Weiss sobbed as she put her own arms around Ruby and seemingly clung onto her for dear life "It was my fault…and I couldn't do anything to stop it!" she cried before collapsing into her chest. Ruby blinked confused for a moment before her eyes softened '_Oh Weiss haven't you tortured yourself enough?' _she thought, her heart full of aching sympathy, before resting her head against that of the broken down heiress.

"Shh, it's alright. It was just a nightmare" Ruby whispered into Weiss's hair as the girl's quiet sobs shook her body. The girl gripped the front of Ruby's shirt, burying her face into her chest as she wept. Ruby tried again to get through this time taking Weiss's face in her hands and lifting it so that crystal blue met sparkling silver. Ruby held her gaze for several moments, noting both fear and confusion in them, before she inclined her head and kissed Weiss's tearstained cheek before saying "hey it's alright your safe in here with me."

Weiss's heart ached at the words '_safe? I thought Aria and I were safe, look how that turned out. No I will not be responsible for another innocent's death besides_…"Ruby don't you understand if you stay with me you are in as much danger if not more than Aria was? I don't know if I could handle losing you too. ''

Ruby simply shrugged "you worry too much, I'll be fine" she said with such conviction that it caused Weiss to pause, this didn't last very long as in the next instant Weiss's eyes flared up with anger as she pulled back from Ruby. "You. are not. listening! I have not felt this way about anyone in a very long time and I don't think I could live with myself if something happened to you. Goddamn it Ruby I think I love you and I will not allow you to get hurt because of me!"

Ruby huffed in annoyance at having her skills yet again doubted by the white haired beauty, she began to reply her voice flat and angry.

"Well I'll be honest despite popular belief I'm not all that innocent and I can hold my own in a fight as you've clearly seen me do so with that giant bird in the forest. Weiss I am really getting sick of you doubting me at every turn. Look, I'm not going to pull the whole I'm team leader and you're going to respect my authority thing but If you, Blake, Yang, and I are going to be on the same team then together than you've got to stop doubting that I can handle myself one the…battlefield…. "

Ruby mumbled the last few words as something Weiss said clicked home and left her too startled to continue her tirade. Her heart began to pound hard and fast in her chest as she relieved just what had been said in reaction to the revelation her whole body began to shake as suddenly she became very nervous.

'_Dear Goddess did she just?' _she thought barely able to form a coherent thought, it was just too much to hope for that Weiss had just admitted to the one thing that Ruby had only dreamed could be true. "You love me?" She stated rather than asked, bewildered. Weiss met her eyes and nodded once her cheeks starting to blush furiously. Ruby sat stock still, staring with disbelieving eyes at the blushing Weiss not quite able to believe her and yet wanting desperately for what she said to be true.

'_Well Ruby one way to find out.' _with this thought Ruby leveled her face with Weiss leaning so close that their lips were just a hair apart "Please Say it." She begged her voice cracking from emotion as she leaned in and gently kissed Weiss once before pulling back her eyes full of the fear of rejection and perhaps a little more than a small amount of hope.

Weiss's breath hitched in her throat at the feeling of Ruby lips on her own and her whole body began to shake as her own nerves starting to get the better of her. She knew full well the consequences of her next words if she said it. There was no going back, she would have to face her father, have to face the fact that one day the men might come back and try to take Ruby from her but staring into those patient silver eyes she suddenly knew exactly what to say.

"Ruby Rose, you are airheaded, childish, and irresponsible at times. You are also quick to act without thinking often endangering those around you and let's be honest you just plain drive me crazy" Ruby bowed her head defeated and tears began to fill her eyes at Weiss's words but she was stopped by the white haired girls hand on her cheek which brought her eyes up to meet the smiling face of Weiss and her next words would forever be burned into Ruby's mind.

"Despite all of that you are also the most kind, patient and loving person I have ever met. You never stopped trying to help me despite everything I've done to wrong. Ruby you make me want to strive to be a better person through your actions and patience, and most of all Ruby Rose you make me feel safe and happy and for that and everything else I Weiss Schnee am madly in love with you."

Weiss yelped as she felt herself being lifted from the surface of the bed by the surprisingly strong Ruby. She began to giggle despite herself as Ruby, who was whooping with joy, Twirled her around their small room.

"Ruby! Hehe, Put me down!" she squealed but Ruby seemed to had other plans. Ruby began to spin Weiss around and around before suddenly dipping her and placing her lips firmly over Weiss's. The feeling of the kiss was different from their previous ones, where the last had been hesitant and full of doubt this one was warm and filled with a joy that neither girl could have ever melted into the kiss, wrapping her own arms around Ruby's neck as she lost her self in the feeling of her soft lips moving against her own. Ruby emboldened by Weiss's movements bit down gently on her partner's lower lip which elicited a small moan from the heiress.

That's when the door to their dorm room slammed opened followed by a bright flash. The spots in their eyes cleared after a moment revealing a very red eyed and very pissed Yang. Ruby and Weiss parted lips and moved to stand shoulder to shoulder neither really wanting to leave other's side as Yang glared at both of them in turn, seemingly sizing them up. Ruby reached out and grasped Weiss's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as she let out a slow shaky breath.

"hehe how's it going Sis?" Yang's eyes flashed and focused on her sister "do you and your little girlfriend have any idea what time it is?" Ruby smiled sheepishly glancing out the window at the early morning sun before replying in the tone of a child who had been caught doing something wrong, "umm too damn early?" next to her Weiss stifled a giggle which unfortunately Yang saw.

"Laugh it up princess, while I am very happy for you both, you done fucked up by waking me up from my beauty sleep." Yang spoke malice clear in her voice, Ruby feeling defensive and spurred by past retaliations made by her sister, moved herself in front of Weiss "what are you planning to do Yang?" she asked trying to keep the fear in her voice down. This was hard because as she spoke Yang's mouth curled into a dark evil smile. "Oh I've already done it" she said and with a dark chuckle she held up her cellphone which had a picture of Ruby and Weiss moments before they broke apart, above the picture a line of text stated simply that it had been sent to "_**Uncle Crow, Mom, Dad.**_"

Ruby and Weiss stood dumbfounded as Yang excited to return to her room laughing maniacally the stunned panicked looks on their faces seemingly sating her bloodlust for the moment. After several tense seconds it was Weiss who broke out of her surprise first and moved to place her hand on Ruby's shoulder "um are you okay Ruby?" Ruby nodded once before she began to chuckle mischief filling her eyes "yeah I'm fine. My family, they'll give me crap for a while and probably want to meet you at some point but overall they'll be fine. At least we've got an ace in the hole if she tries to do something like that again" Weiss scratched her head confused trying to ignore the terror that filled her at the prospect of meeting Ruby's family. "Ace in the hole? What do you mean?" she asked.

Ruby glanced back at Weiss and raised one of her eyebrows "Um Weiss did you happen to notice what Yang was wearing?" Weiss shook her head slowly "Some sort of Nightdress I assume why?" Ruby began to laugh though she was careful to keep her voice low. "Well you see Weiss I know my sister very well and I know her wardrobe even more so as I often steal from it and I can say with absolute certainty that Yang does not own a black nightgown. Her roommate however does and I recognized it immediately since it was what she was wearing that first night before the emerald forest." Weiss blinked for several moments as the implications behind what Ruby suggested began to sink in. A devilish grin appeared on her own face as she too began to chuckle quietly.

"Oh this is too rich!" she exclaimed in a whisper as she collapsed on the floor laughing quietly. Soon Ruby joined her on the floor and as the cock crowed the two lovers welcomed the new days dawn with their hearts full of mirth and most of all, love for one another.

**Authors note: Here's another Chapter for all you wonderful readers! Sorry that it took so long to come out but I had a lot that I wanted to get in here to get it right. Please review and let me know what worked and what didn't work or what was good or bad and Ill strive to fix the problem in the next chapter! I hope you enjoy and I'll see you all next chapter where the plot shall begin picking up once again!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Every-body needs somebody**

"_And…Bingo, I got it! Transmissions connected boss, but you'll only have a few moments before their sniffer programs start to decrypt it. You've got two, maybe three minutes tops so make it quick"__Torchwick nodded grabbing the Headset microphone from the radio operator._

"_Well done Jack" his tone light and amused as he began to speak into the Headset. "Attention this is Torchlight to Snake Eater come in Snake, do you read?" The radio crackled static for a few seconds before springing to life. _

"_This is Snake, I read you Torchlight, what are my orders?" a gruff voice responded through the static. Torchwick smiled wickedly and proceeded to give Snake the particulars of his new mission._

Over the next few hours Weiss and Ruby spent much of their time cuddled together on Weiss's bed, talking well into the early evening, only pausing for bathroom breaks or to grab a quick bite to eat from the cafe. It was just before the sun set over the horizon that Ruby stood and informed Weiss that they were going out. This spiked Weiss's curiosity so she didn't argue as Ruby ran around getting dressed and throwing clothes to Weiss. In the next instant they were out the door and to Weiss's surprise heading the opposite direction of the exit.

"I still don't know why you think this is necessary, besides wouldn't your sister still be mad about us waking her up last nig- I mean this morning?" muttered an irritated Weiss as her partner dragged her down the hallway towards Yang and Blake's room.

"I told you Weiss, it's been a long rough week for everyone and it would be good for us to let loose a little while we have the time." Ruby said patiently as they arrived in front of her sister's room. After a moment's hesitation Ruby reached a hand up and knocked on the door. "And don't worry about Yang you'd be surprised how fast she gets over stuff like that."

Weiss rolled her eyes not feeling up to arguing with the beautiful redhead who stood next to her in a plain black tank top and a pair of tight fitting black jeans which just seemed to dare Weiss to get caught staring at them. Weiss leaned nonchalantly against the opposite wall as they waited glancing down to smooth out her own tank top (white of course), when suddenly the door opened to reveal Yang's beaming face.

"Well look who it is! What's up you love birds?" the blonde shouted with glee though her eyes were narrowed suspiciously at the two girls.

"Well Yang" Ruby began "we felt really bad about this morning so we thought we'd come and see if you and Blake would like to go out tonight with us." Yang glanced Ruby up and down for a moment, the suspicion remaining clear in her eyes until they fell upon the black fedora that adorned Ruby's head.

"Are you suggesting what I think you are little sis?" Yang said her eyes suddenly ablaze with excitement. Ruby nodded with a large smile, placing a pair of sunglasses on her face before saying "Word is there's a bar just off campus that holds an open Mic night once a week that a lot of the students go to, so I thought maybe we could pay them a visit and show Beacon academy how it's done."

Before Ruby had even finished speaking, Yang shut the door in their faces with a hurried "Wait here." Weiss raised her eyebrow in confusion as Ruby simply glanced over her shoulder and winked. Over the next couple minutes the couple heard a varied assortment of shouts and crashes from inside of the room.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity Yang stepped out dressed in a similar outfit to Ruby's right down to the hat and sunglasses. Behind Yang in a simple black t-shirt, shorts, and her signature bow stood Blake looking about as confused as Weiss over what exactly was going on. Without a word of explanation Yang and Ruby reached out and grabbed their respective partners and began to walk towards the exit to the dorm.

Minutes later as the last rays of the sun began to dip behind the horizon the quartet entered a medium sized bar just outside the campus perimeter, affectionately named the _Beowulf's Den_ due to the large model of the beast which stood outside the entrance. Weiss was immediately uncomfortable as she was assaulted by the loud music and smells that came with the bar. Weiss, for lack out of a better term, was way out of her natural element. Everything around her was strange and unfamiliar, from the stage where a band played a lighthearted tune to the sea of patrons that covered almost every available space. Ruby perhaps sensing her partners distress, gave her hand a quick squeeze as she turned to face her.

"Hey Weiss you okay?" she asked her eyes beginning to fill with worry. Weiss said nothing for a few seconds, unsure as to how to respond without offending Ruby. Then deciding that she shouldn't let her discomfort ruin Ruby's plans for them tonight, she forced an elegant smile to spread across her face before she nodded.

"Yeah I am perfectly fine, just taking a minute to get used to the um atmosphere, but Ruby would you mind explaining exactly what we are doing here?" she asked gesturing to the bar around her. Ruby followed her gesture and returned Weiss's smile with one of her own.

"You'll see, now c'mon we should get some good seats" She said and Weiss had to admit the excitement in her loves voice was so contagious that she couldn't help but giggle as Ruby led her over to a small table near the raised stage located near the back of the main floor of the bar where Yang and Blake already sat.

'_Well at the very least I'm not the only one who feels a little out of place' _Weiss thought as she saw Blake fidgeting in her chair but then she noticed that Blake actually looked more amused the uncomfortable and she became even more confused. Yang shot up out of her chair and wrapped her arms around Weiss and Ruby, guiding them the rest of the way to the table, shouting to be heard over the music of the band that was on stage.

"Hey Ruby I talked to the band they said we could go up with our usual once they finish this song. So come and have a drink, I went ahead and ordered a round of your favorite to start us off" with this Yang sat them both down and walked across the floor towards the bar to retrieve their drinks. Weiss turned to Ruby who had begun to visible shake as well as pale. Worried Weiss reached over and shook Ruby's arm to get her attention. Once they locked eyes Ruby physically relaxed. Before she could say anything however Yang returned with a tray which held a large black labeled bottle as well as four shot glasses filled to the brim with an amber liquid.

"Here you go ladies, one for Weiss, one for Ruby, one for Blake and one for me" She said handing each of them a glass as she spoke. Weiss lifted the glass to her face and took a small sniff, immediately cringing at the smell '_Dear God that is strong, what the hell is this?" _she thought.

"And you'll never guess who I ran into up at the bar" Yang exclaimed sitting back down next to Blake "Jaune and Pyrrha! They said they heard about this place from Nora and decided to check it out, isn't that awesome?! They get to see us preform Ruby!" being as perceptive as ever Yang didn't notice the color drain out of Ruby's face again. Weiss placed her hand over her lovers, giving her hand a small squeeze as she did so, Ruby gave her a weak smile of appreciation.

Then Yang made a coughing sound as she gently nudged her sister in the ribs causing her to spill a small amount of her drink. After shooting a death glare at her sister Ruby raised her glass and began to speak.

"Well apparently since I'm team leader I guess I should give a toast, Ahem well it's been a rough couple weeks girls but we made it. We um have all worked really hard and I'm proud to be a part of this team. Here's to a night of well-deserved kicking back and relaxing" Ruby paused and glanced at Weiss before continuing "Most of all here's to us!" with that the four girls put the glasses to their lips and tossed their heads back.

Weiss had to fight the urge to vomit as the vile liquid went down her throat seemingly scorching everything on the way to her stomach.

'_Gods, What the fuck was that?!' _she thought as she began sputtering and coughing much to the amusement of the other girls at the table, especially a little redhead who was laughing so hard she was crying. Weiss tried to regain her composure, punching Ruby lightly on the shoulder since she couldn't seem to find the ability speak. Ruby opened her mouth but before she could say anything the band ended its song and Yang was suddenly at her sister's side pulling her towards the stage.

"C'mon Sis you can have talk to your girlfriend about her inability to handle whiskey after we do our song" she said hurriedly pulling Ruby away donning their hat and sunglasses as they went.

What seemed like seconds later they stood atop the stage behind two microphones that had been set up. They stood faces stern, hands clasped in front of them when the band kicked in with quick light hearted beat that Weiss didn't recognize. The girls onstage began to dance along with the beat, Ruby shakily walked towards the very end of the stage and then with a deep breath she proceeded to perform a couple of backflips which caused the crowd in the bar to cheer in approval, Yang meanwhile was dancing in such a ridiculous fashion that it was impossible not to grin.

The sight's alone was enough to make Weiss and Blake giggle with delight at their friend's antics. However once the melody kicked in Yang danced up to one of the mics and began to speak.

"_We're so glad to see so many of you lovely people out here tonight, we would especially like to welcome all the representatives of the student body from Beacon Academy that have chosen to join us here in the Beowulf's Den at this time. We sincerely hope you'll all enjoy our song and please remember that no matter who you are and what you do to live, thrive and survive, there are still some things that make us all the same. You" _Yang gestured to the crowd with a large sweeping motion of her arms before gesturing to herself "_me, everybody…everybody"_ Once she said this last line Ruby stepped up to her microphone, face still stern but not as pale, and she began to sing.

"_Everybody, needs somebody, everybody needs somebody, to love."_ Weiss's eyes widened with surprise at Ruby's voice, when she had song to her the previous night her voice had been soft and beautiful, this voice that she used now was almost gruff and had an edge to it but it was no less beautiful. Then she began to smile widely as recognition of the song clicked home in her mind.

'_Will wonders never cease?' _she thought idly taking another shot which was offered to her by Blake. This one went down a little better than the first, and it even left a pleasant feeling of warmth in her gut.

Maybe it was the music, or perhaps it was the whiskey but regardless of the reason she became entranced by the two sisters on the stage. Both girls seemed to exude pure energy into the bar causing a few who recognized the song to sing along with them as they danced around the stage. Suddenly Weiss was startled when Ruby, who near the end of the song, jumped of the stage and deftly slid into Weiss's lap. Fixing Weiss with a smoldering gaze Ruby removed the shades so that glazed blue met hazy silver as she began to sing the last verse directly to her.

"_Sometimes I feel, I feel a little sad inside. When my baby mistreats me, I never never find a place to hide, I need you!" _The crowd around them began to cheer widely as the song came to an end. Weiss herself began to blush furiously when suddenly she felt a pair of lips covered her own. Which caused the crowed to cheer even louder. To Weiss though, everything slowed to a crawl. All the noises of the bar began to fade, the cheering crowd, even Yang and Blake who were laughing hysterically for some reason faded from Weiss's perception. The fading beat of the band being replaced her own heavily beating heart.

After several seconds of the intense pleasure, Weiss became very aware that She and Ruby were still in a crowded bar and she reluctantly pulled away from the beautiful redhead, who looked sad at the sudden absence of Weiss's lips, only to come face to face with a very mischievous looking Yang.

"What is it Blondie?" Weiss said after a moment of staring Yang down.

"I challenge you Weiss Schnee, to a drinking contest!"

Weiss blinked in confusion for a moment, before she violently shook her head, which didn't help her already nauseated brain, turning down the challenge. She turned back to Ruby, having forgotten their presence in the bar again, fully intent on continuing where they left off. Ruby was more than happy to oblige her girlfriend when suddenly they were interrupted by sound of Yang clearing her throat. The couple broke apart, both looking more than a little annoyed.

"What is it Yang?" Weiss said with a huff. Yang didn't answer, instead she slammed a shot glass in front of Weiss and filled it to the brim, and then she did the same to a shot glass in front of her after doing so she placed the still nearly full bottle near Ruby's former seat. Weiss sighed in annoyance locking her icy blue eyes with Yang's mischievous lilac. "I'm not getting out of this am I?"

"Not a chance in hell Weiss, after disgracefully choking on this fine liquor earlier well let's just say you gotta regain your honor missy I you want me to approve of you and my little sister being all lovey dovey with each other." Yang said with a laugh her smile widening as she picked up her own glass and raised it in mock salute to Weiss before downing the glass. After slamming the glass down she gestured that it was Weiss's turn.

Weiss sighed once more and gently pushed Ruby, who was now starting to giggle at Weiss's reaction, back into her own seat. Weiss glared at Yang, and then with a smirk she raised her own glass.

"Cheers" and with that Weiss through her head back downing her own shot with more ease then she had before, upon slamming her own glass down she smiled wickedly at Yang before saying. "Hey by the way I forgot to mention this when we saw you this morning but nice nightgown." At this both Yang and Blake began to flush furiously, before either could retort however, Ruby slammed the now empty bottle of Whiskey onto the table. The other three girls stared mouths agape at Ruby who simply smiled in response.

"Does this mean I win the 'hiccup' drinking contest?" Ruby shouted gleefully as Yang sighed signaled the bar for another bottle.

"Let's try this again, perhaps something a little stronger this time. Vodka sound good?" Weiss's head shot up at the mention of her favorite alcoholic beverage. Replying quickly "oh you are so on" and from then on both girls spent much of the next several hours trying to outdrink the other while Blake and Ruby cheered them on.

_The man known as Snake watched the four girls from his secluded corner of the bar. Smoking a cheap cigar he mused over the scene playing out in front of him. If he were to be honest he wasn't all that surprised at how easy it had been to find them. What had been surprising was the Schnee girl was not trying to hide her relationship with the Redhead in any way. However To be fair they were all drinking pretty heavily so it could have been a mistake and for the Redheads sake Snake sincerely hoped that was all it was. _

_He wasn't a fan of this plan to begin with but he didn't really have a choice in the matter besides the Organization didn't pay him to have an opinion, they paid him to assess and return Intel on certain targets._

_Thankfully he had plenty of time to figure out exactly who his target's closest friends were before he had to report to Torchwick so no need to jump the gun and get some innocent picked up and held hostage for a little bit of fun on a Saturday night. He could take all the time he needed to get the full story. Though perhaps best of all, when the time came, Schnee wouldn't even know what hit her._

_**Authors note: YAY ITS FINALLY DONE! You can't imagine how tough this chapter was to write. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and please leave me a review to let me know what you thought. Thank you to all those who have stuck with this story this far and I hope you stick around as we head towards the future. Also a huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story so far, your reviews are monumental in helping me to improve this story, so again Thank you! Well that's it for me the next chapter will be out within a week from today so until next time take care! **_

_**P.S : Hope you all had a Happy Friday the 13**__**th**__**! **_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Break In.**

_Snow fell softly from the sky, the eerie silence that often accompanied these sort of blizzards was deafening. All was covered in thick pristine blankets of white and cold. For some reason unfathomable to Weiss every fiber of her very being was filled with dread at the sight of this silent snow laden forest._

_Weiss began to walk down the forest path, being careful to watch the surrounding trees for any sign of movement but there was none to be seen save the silently falling snow. Still cautious she continued down the path, hugging herself, rubbing her arms trying desperately to protect her bare, nightdress covered, body from the cold. That's when she saw it._

_The grey of the stone had almost escaped her notice, blending in almost perfectly with the snow covered ground. The imprint of a rose stood out against the grey calling out to the snow princess, mocking her, accusing her._

"_**Hush now don't you cry"**_

_Weiss walked shakily up to the headstone and upon reaching it she fell to her knees. Deep down she knew this was a dream however that one rational thought was drowned out by the panic and fear that filled her as she read the inscription printed neatly on the base of the stone. _

'_Here lies Ruby Rose, gone but never forgotten'_

"_**Wipe away the tear drops from your eyes"**_

_Tears poured down Weiss's face as she let out a wail of pain and despair, images of Ruby's dissolving body filled her head, and how could she have been so stupid? How could she have been so arrogant to think that this time would be different? Weiss stared off into the grey skied oblivion overhead, overwhelming guilt and self-hate twisting her as she sobbed. She stood and shuffled past the grave to the cliff beyond. Staring out into the nothingness she had no second thoughts, no indecision, and no chance. Weiss flung out her arms wide and called out to the abyss._

"_Please….forgive me Aria….Ruby, I-"She choked on another sob before forcing it down _

"_I'm so sorry….I never deserved you. No one should be made to suffer what you did. I promise you that no one else will die because of me" _

_With that she leaned forward ever so slightly and let gravity take her over the edge._

"_**You're lying safe in bed, it was all a bad dream spinning in your head"**_

Weiss awoke to find herself firmly in the embrace of a very alive and very worried looking Ruby Rose. The redheaded girl sat with Weiss in her lap, Weiss's head cradled against Ruby's chest, quietly rocking her back and forth as she sang.

"_**I will be watching over you"**_ Even after little over a month together as a couple Ruby's melodic voice still managed to entrance Weiss and calm her nerves. She turned her gaze to meet her lover's eyes.

"_**I am going to help you see it through" **_

Blue met silver and everything, but the steady drum of Ruby's heartbeat against Weiss's ear, fell away. The owner of the silver eyes smiled at the girl held her arms before she leaned down pressed her lips firmly to the shaken girl's forehead.

"Feeling better?" Ruby asked her gentle, caring smile never leaving her face.

"What happened?"

There was a slight crack in Ruby's calm façade at Weiss's question, but she quickly reigned herself in and the flash of worry on her face was gone almost as soon as it appeared.

"You started crying in your sleep, so I sang you a lullaby." Weiss stared up at the redheaded girl her look of confusion transforming into one of embarrassed thanks. Ruby couldn't help but giggle at the expense of the now blushing Weiss.

"You're really cute sometimes you know that?" this elicited a large pout on the face of the heiress which in turn only made Ruby giggle more than ever.

"Shut up! I am not cute." Weiss said with a huff looking away while trying to hide her own smile that had begun to grow on her face. Ruby only leaned down and kissed her on the nose.

"I beg to differ, you miss Schnee are incredible cute, adorable even."

Ruby closed this statement with a chaste kiss to her partner's lips causing Weiss's face to turn even redder. A warmth began to fill Weiss's veins at Ruby's kiss, forcing the last defiant dregs of the nightmare to fade from her mind. Here with Ruby she was loved. Here with Ruby she was safe. How could she ever repay her for her kindness? The solution came to her and she nearly laughed at how simple it was.

"Ruby?" She asked hesitantly not wanting to break the moment.

"That's my name don't wear it out."

"Would you umm…" Weiss stopped midsentence, as she tried to muster up some courage as her heart began to beat erratically, she took a shaky breath before her next words came tumbling out of her mouth

"Umm would you mind if I sang to you? I just want to return the favor especially after everything you've done for me, please?" at this Weiss felt her cheeks flare up even more. She looked down to avoid Ruby's gaze as she tried desperately to force the blush down.

Ruby stared blankly at her for a few moments as she processed the jumbled mess that had come out of her girlfriend's mouth. Then when comprehension dawned in those gentle silver eyes she nodded vigorously.

"I would really like to hear you sing Weiss." she said her heart leaping into her throat at the nervous antics of the white haired beauty in front of her.

Weiss gave a sigh of contentment, and with a muttered thanks as she cuddled further into Ruby's embrace, pushing the redheaded girl so that she was lying flat on the bed. Eventually she was effectively nuzzling the younger girl's neck while her limbs wrapped tight around her love.

"I love you, you know that?" she said with a soft smile.

Ruby blushed at the feeling of Weiss's body pressed flush to her own. Her close proximity was making Ruby's head swim as her heart began to beat heavily in her chest. Upon hearing Weiss's words her heart melted.

"I love you too Weiss, with all of my heart"

Then Weiss scooted up to plant a wet kiss on her cheek before whispering softly in her ear.

"This is a song that I used to listen to a lot when I was growing up. I don't think I ever really understood what it meant but now, laying here with you, I feel complete and whole for the first time in a very long time. I said this before Ruby and I meant it, you make me want to be a better person for you. Thank you so much."

Weiss then pulled her face away so she could look Ruby in the eyes, she was nervous there was no doubt about that but she wante- no she needed to do this. With a deep shaky breath Weiss began her song.

"_**Put your lighter in the air and lead me back home, when it's all said and done ill follow the echoes, I hear you night after night calling my name" **_

Ruby laid there in bed stunned by the beautiful firm yet soft voice that came out of the girl in front of her. She felt everything fall away as Weiss sang, eventually all Ruby saw was those glistening sky blue eyes staring back at her and something clicked home. Weiss Schnee was more to her then just her girlfriend, she was part of her, a part she had never known she was missing and now that she had found that missing piece of her soul she decided that she would never risk losing it.

"_**You are the only one, the only one who sees me trusts me and believes me. You are the only one, the only know that knows me and in the dark you show me" **_Weiss moved her face so that her lips were barely an inch away from Ruby's. Ruby felt as though her heart might burst from her chest when she felt Weiss's cool breath wash over her, causing Goosebumps to appear along her neck. Yet she couldn't look away from the white haired goddess that lay next her, nor did she want too.

"_**Yeah, it's perfectly reckless. Damn, you leave me defenseless. So break in."**_ with that last word Weiss closed the gap between them and their lips pressed gently against one another. Ruby took Weiss's lips in her own and gently bit down on her bottom lip eliciting a moan in the heiress who then, in response, ran her lounge along Ruby's lips begging for entrance, entrance that Ruby was more than happy to grant.

As they kissed Weiss couldn't help but revel in Ruby's ability to make her want to let her guard down. Her kisses felt like fire against her skin as Ruby shifted from her mouth to the curve of her neck.

'_I feel so safe, and so much loved. Thank you Ruby, my dear sweet Ruby Rose.' _Ruby bite down on Weiss's neck and the white haired girl let out a strangled gasp. Weiss let all other thought slip away as she allowed instinct to take over.

The two girls pulled each other closer. Blissfully ignorant of the danger that lurked in the trees of the Emerald forest. The man known as Snake sat before an old radio device fiddling with the dials as he spoke into the transmitter.

"_BJSHZZZZZ…Are you sure? We can afford no mistakes this late in the game." _The firm voice of Torchlight crackled through the headset that Snake wore.

"_Yes I am sure, The Rose girl is the one we want, I suggest that we move soon however. The longer that we wait the harder it will be to attain the target."_ Snake had felt some remorse, he had really hoped that the redhead hadn't been involved with the Schnee girl but unfortunately the die was cast and he had orders to carry out. Snake waited several minutes for Torchlight to respond and despite knowing what he was going to say, it still sent a chill down his spine.

"…_.Alright, time to set the stage. You know what your orders are Snake. We strike in two weeks' time… The stage is set. The orchestra engaged. Now it's time to see if Ms. Schnee can dance."_

_**Authors note: Hey Everybody! Hope your all enjoying the autumn weather! Also I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Sorry that it's so late but unfortunately real life intercedes to screw with even the best laid plans. Just a quick disclaimer: I do not own Queensryche's **__**Silent Lucidity **__**or Halestorm's **__**Break In**__** I just happen to like both of the songs a lot. Finally please leave me a review and let me know what you thought! Constructive criticism is always welcome. Also I want to thank all those who have reviewed up to this point and im so glad you are enjoying my story and I hope that continues as we start our freefall towards the climax of this story next chapter. Thank you again, and until next time take care!**_

_**P.S: so the release schedule for this story is set attentively for every Friday, however with college exams coming up I may be in a tight spot when it comes to releasing chapters on time but I will do my best to keep to that schedule. If a chapter is going to be late I will put an announcement up on my profile page at least one day prior to the scheduled release date.**_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 Until It Breaks**

To Ruby Rose the last several months had been like living in a dream. She had been accepted to the academy of her dreams two years early than normal. Her sister had begun to be less of an annoyance (Stealing her diary, picking on her as a big sister does ect.) and Ruby had Blake to thank in no small part for that, her golden haired sister had finally worked up the courage to ask Blake out on a real date and what had resulted in the following weeks was Yang and Blake being attached at the hip, not to say that Ruby wasn't happy for her sister, in fact quite the opposite was true, she was overjoyed that her sister had finally someone to rely on and love, it was just that they went everywhere together and that meant that Yang didn't have as much time to mess with Ruby as she used to.

The most important event that had happened in those blessed few weeks of course was the admission of love between herself and her once antagonistic teammate, Weiss Schnee. Ruby couldn't remember a time during which she had been happier or felt more loved. However as the weeks past Weiss started noticing a change in her girlfriend.

As winter approached Ruby had started to act distant, skittish even. There were periods during which Ruby would stare off into space for hours at a time in their dorm room. Then at other times she would wake up in the middle of the night, shaking and reaching out for Weiss in the dark. This went on for 3 weeks until finally Weiss had had enough.

"Ruby, is everything okay?" Weiss asked her one snowy Friday evening in October. Her girlfriend looked up from the book she had been studying from and locked eyes with the heiress.

Weiss couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine as striking silver met pale blue. No matter what she did, it seemed she would never be able to look Ruby in the eye without feeling her heart melt.

"Yeah everything's peachy, why do you ask?" Ruby asked nonchalantly, closing her book she strode over to Weiss's bed and settled down next to her. Weiss automatically wrapped her arm around the red headed girl the moment she sat down and pulled her close. Weiss took a deep breath and plowed ahead.

"Well you've just been acting kind of odd the last couple of weeks, you've been having nightmares and you also have been really spacey….well more spacey then is normal for you. " Weiss paused a moment to gauge Ruby's reaction. She was no longer looking Weiss in the eye, instead she kept her eyes firmly facing her feet.

Weiss's heart sank and she quickly placed a hand under Ruby's chin, raising her face so that her eyes once again met Weiss's own.

"Ruby, I'm worried about you. Please tell me what's wrong, I know you think you can deal with everything yourself but the fact of the matter is that you can't. I Love you and I so desperately want to help you so please stop shutting me out." With this Weiss bent down and pressed her lips to Ruby's firmly.

Ruby stared at Weiss, eyes watering, for a moment before she broke. The Red head girl buried her head into the older girls chest and sobbed.

"I'm….I am so sorry Weiss" Ruby choked out between sobs. the flabbergasted Weiss didn't reply, instead opting to gently wrap her arms around the crying girl and stroke her back.

"I….I can't believe that I keep doing this every year. I'm sorry, I forgot you don't know what I'm talking about do you? "Weiss shook her head in response, to which Ruby replied with a heavy sigh of resignation before burrowing further into her chest. Weiss was almost about to pull away and force her to continue when a small weak voice, a voice she didn't identify as her Ruby's, began to speak softly.

"Well seeing as you're my girlfriend and all I think its best you know. Um well, I get like this every year, right about at this time. You see" Ruby chocked back another sob "umm…. the anniversary of my mother's death is this weekend."

Weiss's arms griped tighter around Ruby as her own eyes began to mist with love and sympathy for the stuttering and blubbering girl before her.

"I am so sorry Ruby….do you want to talk about her?" Weiss began, gently rubbing the younger girls back. Ruby said nothing and simply snuggled further into Weiss's embrace. They sat there for several long moment's, silent save for the sound of Ruby's labored breathing. Finally with a heavy sigh the Redheaded Girl began to speak.

"Her name was Summer Rose and she wasn't my birth mother, she had died giving birth to me, but I don't think my real mom could have loved me anymore then she did. Summer and her Husband took me and Yang in after a large group of Grimm attacked the town that we had been staying in. For a while things were great but then…..Mom got sick"

_6 years ago _

"_I am afraid there is nothing I can do further Mr. Rose" A ageing man with a doctors uniform said. The man he addressed let out a heavy breath._

"_How….How long has she got doctor?"_

"_Not long, at the rate that her state is deteriorating we won't try moving her to a hospice. I suggest you and your children go in and say farewell, I am very sorry." with this the doctor left Mr. Rose to gather his family and enter the hospital room of Summer Rose. The once beautiful and proud woman seemed weak and frail against the greyness of the room._

_Ruby and Yang immediately ran and knelt by their mother's side, Ruby started to sob loudly as she saw how weak her mother looked._

"_Shh, its okay my little rose" The woman in the bed said, her voice low and hoarse as she weakly reached out a comforting hand and stroked her adoptive daughters cheek. The woman suddenly began to cough violently._

"_Mommy!" Ruby cried out, taking her mother's hand in her own and gripping it tightly. Yang sat beside Ruby unmoving, silent tears rolling down her face, as she watched their mother's spasms. Summer Rose smiled weakly at her family._

"_I love all of you so very much. My beautiful daughters, please be strong for Daddy ok? I am so very proud of you both." She paused for a moment to let out another violent cough. "Both of you will grow up to be…wonderful young women I…know….it." with this the woman who had raised Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose expired._

_Present day_

"I am so very sorry Ruby I." Weiss whispered, her mind a torrent of sympathy and sadness. Weiss paused when Ruby looked up to her and gave Weiss the smile that never failed to have her heart melting. Ruby adjusted herself into a position that had her sitting squarely across Weiss's lap, she then put her arms around her neck for support.

"Thank you, for everything, seriously Weiss it means so very much." She stopped for a moment to kiss Weiss gently on the lips then she looked down as a nervous energy began to flood her. _'I really shouldn't as her this _

"I-it's the least I can do Ruby, after putting up with me for so long" she replied, flustered from the kiss.

"Can….Can I ask you a favor? It's kind of big but you can say no if you want to but um well…Yang and I got permission from Ozpin to go out to visit our Moms grave this weekend and were allowed to bring someone with us, Yang is bringing Blake and well I was wondering if you'd like to come with me? Again its ok if you don't want to… "Ruby asked trailing off towards the end of her statement.

Weiss blinked, momentarily confused and shocked by Ruby's request, she wanted her to come with her to her mother's grave? She couldn't possibly intrude on something that personal, but that look that Ruby was giving her….it was the same look Ruby used whenever she wanted Weiss to do what she wanted, and damn her if it wasn't effective.

"Okay if it means that much to you then yes I'll go with you Ruby" This was all Weiss had time to say as the next moment she found herself being tackled into the covers by the enthusiastic young girl who was now preceding to squeeze the life out of her lover in thanks.

_Authors note: Dear sweet Goddess this was hard to write. I am so sorry that this took so long but this was the last filler chapter before we get into this stories final arc. I will not be posting these final 5-6 chapters until they are reasonably complete but rest assured we shall be finished before the end of this year. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the story thus far, please leave a review and let me know what you think. Love and Light to you all and until next time take care!_

_~Crystal_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Noose & Nail **_

"_S-top….just please lie to me once and tell me everything will be alright….that she'll be alright" Weiss begged the figure that stood guard over the hospital bed that held her life, her heart, her very soul, Ruby Rose. _

_ The figure turned and the doctor's sleepless, bespectacled gaze leveled with Weiss Rose. In his eyes she saw her worst fears confirmed and the room started to spin as he began to again repeat the words that would crush her very essence._

_ "I am sorry Mrs. Rose but….her wounds were far too great. We have done everything we could and even though through some miracle we managed to stabilize her….well it appears she's regressed into a coma due to the severe trauma she dealt with during battle. She may never wake up. I am so sorry for your loss." _

_ The Doctor then began to talk about options, next steps, but Weiss had stopped listening to him. _

_ The pale woman's body slid to the floor of the hospital room as she stared in shock and horror at the seemingly_ _peaceful Ruby Rose. Weiss opened her mouth and all the pain and fear came out in one long scream._

Weiss awoke with a start, a hand instinctively flying up to cover her mouth to stop the sob that tried to escape her throat. Weiss laid there for a moment, taking stock as she shook off the last heavy dregs of sleep. Her heart was racing rapidly in her chest and a cold sweat covered her face other than that however everything else seemed to be in order.

_Damn Nightmares, wont they ever leave me be? _Weiss thought with frustration as she peeled back the covers and swung her legs over the side of her bed. The early morning light had just begun to wash over the room, basking it in an ethereal blue grey glow. Weiss glanced around the room for several long moments as she took it all in as she attempted to calm herself down.

A large oak desk stood in the corner with various books and papers from both Ruby's and Weiss's classes, Ruby's noticeable more crinkled and crumbled which always made Weiss roll her eyes in disgust she may love the girl to bits but she had absolutely no sense of organization whatsoever, no matter what Weiss did or said to keep her girlfriends papers in order, Ruby always seemed to find a new way to crinkle or otherwise shred the documents.

Weiss moved her gaze from the desk to the space across from her where a roommates bed was normally located her eyes instead were met with a massive workbench, upon which sat the glistening and freshly oiled Crescent Rose. . After that first night together Ruby had insisted on taking up permanent residence in her bed and the next afternoon upon returning to their dorm room Weiss was met with the site of Ruby meticulously stripping, cleaning and rebuilding her "Baby "upon a work bench that had somehow magically appeared in their room in under an hour.

Speaking of Ruby, a cute mewing sound from behind her drew Weiss from her contemplative state and plunged her firmly in the realm of heart melting cuteness when she turned to face the source of the sound. Ruby lay there next to her, eyes open and looking up at the Ice princess in a bleary squint. Despite the darkness Weiss could clearly see the way her Roses eyes gleamed, glazed over with a good mixture of love and drowsiness.

"mhhmmm Weiisss come back to bed and lets back to sleep!" Ruby whined, wrapping her arms around Weiss's shoulders and dragging her back down on to the bed so that she could cuddle with the heiress.

"Mmm Cuddlebuddy!" Ruby mewed as she nuzzled into Weiss's chest

Weiss knew she should fight her and tell her that with their trip to Ruby's mothers grave that day they needed to get up and prepare but she found herself being won over by the adorable puppy dog eye look that Ruby gave her.

With a heavy sigh Weiss resigned herself to her position of cuddle buddy and wrapped her own arms around Ruby's smaller form and soon, enthralled by the feeling of Ruby's heart beating against her own chest, Weiss drifted off into a blissfully warm and dreamless sleep.

_**Later that morning**_

"C'mon were going to miss the shuttle!" Ruby yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted across the large open space that was Beacon academies landing platform. On a Sunday morning it was nearly deserted save for a singular shuttle that was specifically for student use as long as they had the proper licensing needed to fly it ,which apparently Yang had earned by doing odd jobs for Ruby's uncle when they were growing up, as well as permission from the headmaster which Ruby had received.

Weiss struggled to keep up with her sprinting girlfriend as she tried desperately to finish buttoning up her jacket to shield her from the cold wind that had begun to pick up. In addition to the wind the Goddess had apparently saw it fit make it snow as well which did little to brighten Weiss's dismal attitude at waking up so late in the morning.

However she didn't understand why Ruby thought her sister would leave her behind when Yang was the one who was piloting the damned shuttle in the first place. After thinking about it for a moment however Weiss realized that even if she had brought this up Ruby would've more than likely have forgotten it and still been in a hurry, as it was there was nothing she could do about it now.

Weiss sprinted into the shuttle just after Ruby and was greeted with a wall of warmth that heated her freezing body and eased the cold ache that had begun to build up in her bones as a result of their sprint from the other side of the school to the shuttle. Collapsing into the seat next to Ruby, Weiss took a moment to take in what would be her surroundings for the next four hours.

The shuttle itself looked like something out of one of the sci-fi movies that Ruby was so found of, with its triangular shape and triple set of wings, one for each point of the triangle , all dust powered. The main cabin and the cockpit were joined by a singular door and through it Weiss could see Ruby's sister Yang wearing a leather jacket and aviator sunglasses going over a preflight checklist with Blake who sat in the co-pilot seat. As they got situated in their seats Weiss whispered to Ruby

"so how long are we going to be gone again?" Ruby was quick to reply as usual

"Just two days, today and tomorrow, we'll be staying with one of our uncles overnight and return tomorrow"

Weiss nodded at this mentally tallying which subjects she and Ruby would have to catch up on upon their return. For Ruby however school seemed to be the last thing on her mind

"I am so excited! Yang almost never gets a chance to show off her piloting skills anymore." Exclaimed her partner who sat beside her, shaking off the snow from her beloved red cloak. Setting it aside Weiss was taken aback by what she saw under the cloak. Ruby had been in the bathroom getting ready when she had suddenly screamed that they were late and bolted from the room, as such Weiss hadn't seen what she had decided to wear. Now sitting beside her in a cramped shuttle she was stunned by the beauty of it.

Ruby was wearing what appeared to be a full length gown that went to her heels. The gown was dark midnight blue in color and was accentuated with little studs that glittered along its length like stars in the night sky. This was not the most shocking thing however. While the dress did surprise her, especially the color of the dress, the thing that absolutely floored Weiss was the fact that Ruby Rose, her tomboy esque loveable dunce of a girlfriend, was wearing makeup.

Weiss blinked several times trying to believe that what she was seeing was real, her mouth stood agape as she reached out a hand and gently brushed the dress as if trying to prove to herself that she was actually bearing witness to such a sight.

Ruby noticed her girlfriend scrutinizing her form and instantly turned as red as her namesake as she suddenly became far more self-conscious about her attire.

"W-what? Is there something on my face?" She squeaked, squirming so much that it appeared as though she was trying to disappear into the thick blue plush of the passenger seat.

Weiss found herself at a loss for words for several moments as she tried desperately not to let out a squeal over how adorable Ruby looked at the moment fidgeting in her seat and refusing to look Weiss in the eye less her face get any redder. Finally after what seemed like a lifetime she began to speak.

"Ruby Rose, You look…absolutely breathtaking." Weiss said, her voice almost a whisper. Then in a movement that surprised Weiss as much as it did Ruby, Weiss brought up her palm pad or scroll as it was called and used it to snap a photo of her girlfriend blush and all.

Ruby blinked dumbly for several seconds, the flash of the camera blinding her. When she was able to focus again she glanced from the camera to Weiss and back to the camera again. Then she suddenly launched herself onto her girlfriends lap trying desperately to snatch the evidence of her current state away from Weiss.

"Weiisss!" she whined stretching her arm out towards the scroll that was just out of her reach. "Give that too mee!"

Weiss hid the scroll behind her back away from Ruby's outstretched hands, giggling wildly as she did so.

"Oh no Ruby, I need something to prove to myself that I didn't just dream that you were wearing a dress."

After Ruby realized that there was no way she was going to get the scroll away from the white haired beauty by conventional means she decided it was time to play dirty. Putting on her best doe eyed, kicked puppy dog expression she locked eyes with the heiress and whimpered softly.

"O-Okay, if that's what you really want, then I guess I can't stop you."

Weiss stared blankly back at Ruby her heart filled with a mixture of heartbreaking sadness over being responsible for the look on the scythe wielders face and anger over the fact that the ploy was actually breaking down her resolve. Weiss was just about to cave and hand over the scroll when Yang called back from the cockpit.

"Hey you two lovebirds! As much as I enjoy gagging over your public displays of affection I'm afraid that I am going to need you both to take your own seats for the flight." The tone of Yang's voice suggested that she was in no mood for any sort of back sass so Ruby and Weiss quickly detangled themselves from one another and sat in their respective seats, Ruby looking defeated and frustrated that her plot to retrieve the scroll had failed and Weiss looking relieved that she had failed.

As the shuttle began to lift off the launch pad, Weiss felt a pressure against her shoulder and upon looking down she noticed Ruby had snuggled into the crook her neck.

"Seriously Weiss, thank you for coming…It really means a lot to me" Ruby said giving her hand a squeeze. Weiss felt her face heat up slightly as she tried to brush it off

"Really Ruby it's no trouble, Thank you for wanting me here by your side" Ruby smiled up at her, with that goofy lopsided smile that Weiss had grown to love so much. Then she spoke in a clear voice that was so akin to the tinkling of tiny bells, the words that would make Weiss forget her past if even just for a little while.

"I love you Weiss Schnee, with all that I am."

Weiss's gaze softened and instead of replying she bent down and pressed her lips firmly to Ruby's own, disregarding the gagging sounds that came from the cockpit. The kiss was soft and filled with so much love and warmth that Weiss soon began to feel lightheaded. When they broke the kiss the two girls simply stared at each other with dreamy half lidded stares, then Ruby smiled wide and large before nestling herself into Weiss's embrace where she soon succumbed to sleep. Weiss soon followed suit, lulled to sleep by the feeling of Ruby's heart and the soft whirring of the shuttles engines as the traveled to their destination.

_**Later that day, early evening in the small village of Aquarius deep in the mountains of the northern outskirts of Vale.**_

Weiss couldn't get over how picturesque the village looked. The cottages that lined the street all had straw thatched roofs. A few horse drawn carriages traveled up and down the snow covered and for the most part largely unpaved streets. Even the people seemed to be determined to add to the atmosphere, each one of them wearing some sort of clothing that Weiss would have expected to see on a medieval movie set. In fact ever since landing in the loading dock, the only modern building in town, Weiss had begun to have the distinct feeling that she had stepped into a fairy tale. The most amazing thing to her however was the fact that this place was where the rambunctious Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long grew up.

Looking to her left at the girl in question Weiss couldn't help the small smile that spread across her face upon seeing the excited childlike wonder that was upon Ruby's face. The young girl was looking excitedly around, calling out to people and saying hello all of which returned her greeting with their own many of them following it with a "Hello again Miss Rose what a pleasure it is to see you again!" or a "My how you both have grown, your mother would be proud" Ruby took all these kind words with a surprising amount of modesty that Weiss wouldn't have expected from the young girl

After a time the small party of Yang, Blake, Weiss and Ruby came to the edge of town, by then the twilight sky had begun to dissolve into early evening and many of the villagers had retreated to their cabins for the evening, all except one.

He was a tall balding bear of a man, he wore a loose cotton shirt and brown work pants covered by a large grey, soot covered apron. He began to advance towards the party with long strides and as he came into earshot Weiss took note of the large bushy black beard and twinkling blue eyes that sparkled in the darkness of the winter night. When he was no more than ten paces from them be called out in a voice that reminded Weiss somewhat of the rolling rumble of thunder.

"By the Goddess if it ain't my nieces come to visit our humble little town!" The man closed the distance between them and abruptly grabbed Ruby and Yang and pulled them in a tight bear hug. Both of the girls in question began laughing with joy as they returned the burly man's affections. Weiss and Blake exchanged a nervous look as the man set down the girls and turned his gaze towards Weiss and Blake.

"Now who might you be Hmm? Have the Gods finally seen fit to set such a fine pair of lasses as yourselves to tame these two firecrackers?" This caused a blush to erupt on both of their faces as Ruby and Yang roared with laughter in the background. Wiping the tears from her eyes Ruby stepped forward and gestured to Weiss and Blake saying

"Uncle Baldemar let me introduce you to our girlfriends Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna. Weiss, Blake, this is our Uncle Baldemar, he's our mothers brother."

Weiss not wanting to seem rude cleared her throat stepped forward and extended her hand towards the man with the madly twinkling eyes.

"Hello sir it's a pleasure to meet you."

Baldemar looked from her hand to her face for a moment before suddenly surging forward and pulling Herself and Blake into a bone crushing bear hug of their own much to the delight of The sisters, who were once again on the ground holding their sides from laughter. Weiss felt as though the life was being squeezed out of her and when she was finally set down she found herself on her knees gasping for breath, Blake didn't seem to fair much better. At seeing the two girls a deep rumble of laughter echoed through the snowy air as he reached down to help the girls to their feet.

"Ah'm sorry Lasses, I forget me own strength at times. Anyways as my dear rose was sayin my name is Hansel Baldemar Blacksmith of this fine town and it is a fine thing making both of yer acquaintance" His accent was thick and bespoke of the type of man who was willing to do anything for family. This was even more evident from the protective way he looked at Yang and Ruby.

The five of them stood talking pleasantly for several minutes as the snow continued to fall. As the conversation went on Baldemar's wild mannerisms and wordplay began to remind Weiss of a certain golden haired girl who stood next to the ever stoic Blake. Then as the moon started to crest the eastern mountains on its assent into the sky, Baldemar brought the conversation around to their sleeping arrangements.

"Alright Lasses seeing as there are four of ya and only one guest bedroom it seems the lot of ya are going to have to share for the night not to worry though, the wife had me bring in the extra cots so each of ya will have yer own bed whether you use them Is going to be up to you." He said with a suggestive wink

'_Yep, definitely like Yang. This must be who she learned to be so outgoing from' _Weiss thought as the girls began to walk towards Baldemar's sizable two story brick home that lay on the very edge of the towns border. Ruby suddenly stopped abruptly in the snow and grabbed Weiss's wrist before saying

"Well catch up in a bit….I-I want to take Weiss to visit mom" The other three didn't argue, Yang merely raised her eyebrow but said nothing. Baldemar nodded solemnly and simply said

"Alright lass I'll leave the door unlocked for ya, take all the time ya need."

Without another word the two groups parted ways. Ruby tugged Weiss behind her as she led them towards a small hill that sat several hundred yards behind Baldemar's home. There was nothing but silence between them as they trudged their way up the hill, Weiss had begun wishing she had brought snow boots and she couldn't imagine how Ruby was fairing in that dress of hers however no complaint was made.

They reached the top of the hill and traveled for several hundred feet through a grouping of trees, when they emerged they were greeted with the site a large Oak tree, at least 3 feet in diameter, and at its base a single headstone.

Upon reaching the burial ground Ruby let go of Weiss's hand and moved to kneel in the snow in front of the grave stone. Weiss stood awkwardly for a moment unsure of what to do, eventually she elected for moving to kneel besides Ruby. Ruby glanced at her, sadness clear in her silver eyes and gave her a smile that made Weiss's heart ache in compassion.

"She would've liked you" she whispered, her breath leaving her mouth in a white curl of steam Weiss returned her smile and placing a hand over Ruby's she began to reply, only to be cut off by the sound of a heavy gruff voice.

"Well as touching as this all is I am afraid that we need to cut this short"

Jumping to their feet Ruby and Weiss came face to face with a site that made both their hearts stop, several dozen armed white uniformed guards who were all pointing rifles at the two girls, and leaning against the Oak over Summer Roses grave was an eye patch wearing man dressed in a long black coat and next to him stood the man who had haunted Weiss's dreams for almost a year, Roman Torchwick.

Torchwick smiled toothily at Weiss before saying

"Did you miss me? Because I sure have missed you" Then turning to the man in black he gestured at the white-haired girl " I had originally intended to grab your girlfriend again however since you were so kind as to offer yourself up on a silver platter I think a change of plans is in order, Snake would you be so kind as to subdue Miss Schnee and prep her for transport?"

The Black coated man nodded once and began to advance on Weiss, Ruby was in his way in an instant, jabbing her fist into the man's gut causing him to double over in pain. She followed the strike by grabbing the back of the man's head and slamming his head into the corner of her mother's tombstone causing the stone to crack. The man fell to the ground, dyeing the surrounding snow with his blood.

Acting on instinct Weiss turned to face the guards that were nearest to her and Ruby and thus the most immediate threat to their safety. She waved her arms concentrating her aura into her fingertips as she summoned several glyphs into existence around her. With another wave of her arms she sent beams of light rocketing towards those guards.

Without her rapier to direct the beams more effectively many of the beams collided with the trees surrounding the clearing, causing them to explode into a shower of splinters which effectively did more to the enemy then the beams would have done on their own. Weiss barely was able to throw up a barrier between Ruby and herself before the splinters began to slice through the bodies of the rest of the guards surrounding them.

_C'mon Baldemar had to have heard that!_ Weiss collapsed to her knees as she tried to regain her energy to defend against the inevitable barrage of bullets that was sure to come their way, however that barrage never came.

What happened next was blur of motion as Roman lunged out, grabbed Ruby's wrist, spun her around and pointed a gun at her head.

"You need to stop fighting and call your bitch off Schnee or she will end up without much of a head left on her pretty little shoulders."

Weiss froze, her mouth agape as the reality of the situation set in. Here she was once again putting someone she loved in danger. After everything that had happened, after thinking that this time would be different the universe had to spit in her face.

_Well it's going to be different this time, this time I'm not going to be the cause of another loved ones death. _She thought as she desperately tried to figure out another way, some angle she hadn't considered that would get them both out of this safely…..unfortunately she couldn't think clearly with the sight of a gun pressed against Ruby's pale forehead, her dress ripped in several places with blood pouring out of various wounds caused by splinters that had made it past Weiss's barrier. In the end there was really only one option

"Ruby, Stop! " Weiss cried out as loud as she could and Ruby did in fact stop struggling against Torchwick grip in order to star at Weiss with wide pleading eyes that begged her not to give in to these monsters. To bad for Ruby, Weiss's mind was made up.

"Let her go and I'll come quietly"

Roman smiled wickedly and nodded once. Ruby tried to yell that this was wrong that they could figure out some other way, but all protest was soon silenced by a pistol butt being slammed into the back of her head knocking her unconscious.

Then suddenly shouts could be heard at the base of the hill followed by gunshots and cries of pain. A uniformed guard ran up to Roman and gasped

'It's the Reds family….they must have heard those explosions and come running, we won't be able to hold off that Blonde and the Blacksmith much longer, their tearing our guys apart." Roman nodded solemnly before replying

"Fall back, Ill Load up Schnee." He then turned his attention back to Weiss.

Beyond Roman Weiss caught a glimpse of a shadow in the trees, a shadow she immediately recognized as Blake and besides here was a woman who appeared to be in her forties that Weiss did not recognize presumably this was the Wife that Baldemar had referred to . Weiss stared hard at her trying to convey that she needed to save Ruby. It seemed that Blake got the message for suddenly she burst from her hiding spot and quickly scooped up Ruby in her arms, just before she disappeared however Weiss shouted

"The man in the Black coat, don't let him get away!"

Blake paused for but a moment before gesturing towards the fallen man. The woman nodded and darted over to the collapsed man known as Snake with a speed surprising for her age, she reached down and picked the man up with ease before disappearing into the darkness.

Romans eyes went wide with anger as he whirled on Weiss his next words chilling her very soul

"Oh you're going to pay for that, ohoho what fun I have planned for you." Then suddenly he was there, inches from her. His pistol came down hard on the side of her head, sending her into the abyss.

_**Authors note: and thus we begin the final arc of this story! This was one of the harder chapters to write due to how much content I had to fit inside of it, however I hope that you all enjoyed the story! Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought and if you have any questions you would like to ask regarding the story or why certain things were done please do so and ill make sure to get back to you next chapter ! Remember every review helps me to continue to make this story more enjoyable for you all. Also Baldemar & his with will be the only other OC's that will be appearing in this series, and I don't know about you but I loved the way Baldemar turned out. Finally Happy Halloween! May you all have a very blessed day and try not to get sick on to much candy! Love and Light to you all**_

_**-Crystal**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Fury of my Flame**_

_**(Warning: Intense violence ahead, torture scenes and people are going to die from here on out. You have been warned) **_

Roman Torchwick was many things, a liar, a scoundrel, and a murderer were just a few of his titles that he had gained over the years. However above all else Roman saw himself as a man of science. A visionary in a field that had all but left him for dead. At least, that is how he saw himself. How could those fools at the Vytal academy of science have thrown him out? Him, a pioneer in the field of combative applications of dust.

Had they thanked him for his contribution to the field? No! Those fools had merely scoffed at him when he proposed injecting live humans with dust to enhance their innate semblance abilities.

In particular Roman remembered Schnee. The man had come to the academy, one spring day years ago, to view some of the applications of dust that the academy had been investigating.

Schnee had been a long time benefactor for the academy so Roman had been told to be on his best behavior. He faintly remembered how excited he had been how _honored_ he had felt. The thought made bile rise in his thought which he quickly swallowed as his anger began to boil.

Schnee had seen his presentation, he had looked disgusted with what he called Romans "Blatant disregard of human lives." And it was not twenty four hour later that Roman found himself being thrown out of the academy for reasons of gross misconduct. Roman vowed that one day he would make those bastards pay, make them, make Schnee, realize his brilliance.

Roman hummed to himself as he cleaned his tools in the large sink that dominated the far side of his small operating room hidden away deep beneath the foundations of White Castle. Yes he had had missteps, he mused as he washed the old rust brown stain of blood off a nasty looking pair of pliers, Aria had been his both his greatest triumph and his greatest failure. She of course had struggled when Roman had had her brought to his lab in the place of the Schnee girl.

''Let me go you monster!" she had cried, thrashing against the grip of the guards that held her firm. Roman remembered that he had genuinely admired the girl's spunk, in fact he thought this trait alone might add to her ability to handle the amount of dust that he injected into her.

Sadly this ended up not being the case at all. Aria had lasted longer than any of his previous test subjects but after being defeated by the Schnee girl she too had dissolved into black sludge, body unable to stand against the power of the dust.

A small cough from behind him broke Roman out of his thoughts.

_Speaking of the Schnee girl he_ thought as a smile placed itself upon his face, he turned to face the once proud heiress.

"Well good morning sunshine!" He said, taking several long strides so he stood over the autopsy table where he had instructed his men to tie down the now naked Heiress. Once he was in a position where he was hovering over her he placed a gentle, caressing, hand on her face. His eyes locking with terrified blue, Roman smiled as he lifted his other hand so Weiss could clearly see the freshly cleaned scalpel that was in his grip.

"I do hope that you slept well, do you know why?" He asked cheerfully has he placed the scalpel firmly against the skin that ran over her right collar bone. Disoriented, Weiss looked down in terror at the knife before shaking her head.

Her fear only served to amuse her captor further as shown by him pressing the knife into her flesh just hard enough to draw blood. This elicited a small cry from Weiss which made Roman laugh with delight before he continued speaking, venom clear in his cheerful voice.

"Because Princess, you and I are going to have so much _fun!"_

It was hard to tell whether it was from terror that the heiress screamed or simply from the pain of from having the skin on her collar bone being sliced through with laser like precision. Annoyed by the noise Roman wasted no time, in the next moment he had grabbed a the pliers which he had been cleaning and placed the little finger of Weiss's left hand in its grip.

"You will stop screaming this instant, every time you scream you're going to lose a finger understand me?" He barked as he began to slowly twist the pliers to emphasize his point. Weiss starred back, terrified, at the man who loomed over her as she choked back another sob. Despite her pain she managed to shut her mouth and catch her sobs in her throat.

Roman smiled at her obedience and leaned forward so that his face was only inches from her own. Weiss felt his hot breath wash over her and immediately wished she could roll over as her stomach threatened revolt at his stench. The glint in his eyes made Weiss uneasy as he whispered.

"Good girl"

The pliers twisted faster than she could follow and the sickening wet sound of flesh being ripped filled the room followed by a wet pop which wises would realize later was her bone breaking free of the tendons in her hand.

Weiss blinked unsure of what had happened for moment. This ignorant bliss did not last long for in the next moment she bucked against her restraints as she felt hot blood begin to escape the gapping, and ragged hole where her pinkie had once been. Roman began to laugh with sociopathic delight as Weiss laid on her table, her mouth open in a silent scream as tears flowed down her face.

_The Baldemar Residence _

Yang was not someone you wanted pissed off. Most people knew her as the happy go lucky brawler who loved to pal around with everyone that she met. However there are three things that you should never do when it came to Yang if you wanted her to remain that loveable blonde.

The first being never damage her hair, seriously some people couldn't seem to appreciate how much work went into looking this good. The second no no was never screw with her friends, Yang's friends were like a second family to her and that led to the third and most important rule when it came to Yang, don't fuck with Ruby. Unfortunately for Roman Torchwick he had just broken two of those three rules which meant he was dead man.

Yang stood with her uncle Baldemar in the basement of his stone cottage in tense silence. Both of them were standing over the unconscious form of a man that Blake had brought back from the fight with Torchwick's men atop the gravesite of Ruby's mother. The eye-patched bastard looked so peaceful despite the bruise that was forming on his face. A peaceful state that Yang intended to change very soon.

"Where's Ruby?" she grunted to Baldemar her voice a guttural angry sound. Her uncle looked at her silently for a moment, His face a mask of dark determination, he then looked back at their prisoner replying in a dangerous tone as he did so.

"The lass is sleeping upstairs, the wife and yer lassie are watching over her while she's recovering from her wounds. Ruby's got a strong spirit in her, Ah suspect she'll be up on her feet in a few hours. Their two floors above us and the walls of the basement are solid brick, they won't be disturbed by our….Interrogation." Baldemar paused as he fixed his niece with a stern look "Now Ah know yer angry Yang, but try to leave him with a few teeth, he isn't much use to us if he cannot give us yer friends location and remember times of the essence here so no beating around the bush."

Yang nodded in understanding.

'Not_ a minute to lose then' _she thought as she grabbed a bucket of ice water she had prepared and proceeded to pour its freezing contents over the man.

The man jumped up at the sudden impact of cold water but found himself being pushed back down by a pair of strong hands. Coughing the man opened his one good eye and found it met with a pair of seemingly glowing crimson red eyes.

"Where is she?" The girl that the eyes belonged to asked, her voice low and dripping with the promise of violence unless she got what she wanted. Unfortunately for the man known as Snake he was far to disoriented and replied dumbly.

"What, Who?"

Crimson eyes narrowed dangerously and a fist shot out from the darkness, impacting with Snake's abdomen. Snake felt a crack as a second fist shot out and impacted near the first and soon he found himself doubled over coughing up dark red drops of blood onto the grey stoned floor.

A dark chuckle came from beyond the woman, Snake tried to glimpse the source and quickly regretted the decision. Behind the woman stood possibly the largest man he had ever seen. This had to be the fabled Baldemar of Aquarius, this was the man that Roman had told them to avoid at all costs then cold terror settled in his gut as he realized just where he was and who was staring at him with murderous intent clear in her crimson eyes. Yang Xiao Long, the girl who had wiped Juniors crew off the map.

"Shit" he muttered, realizing his mistake far to late. Pain erupted from his chest. Another punch, this one shattering his collarbone.

Yang, who getting was tired of the goon's inability to grasp the situation simply reached up and grabbed a fistful of his hair, and pulled until she saw blood start to pour down his face as she slowly separated the hair from his scalp. He cried out in agony as his eye met Yang's causing her to smirk.

"Now listen and listen good because I'm only going to repeat myself once, also from here on out you are going to refer to me as Sir, Got it?" she said evenly pulling on his hair for emphasis. Snake's one good eye widened as he realized this girl wasn't playing around, he was quick to reply.

"I-I Got it!" a tug at his hair caused tears to well up in his good eye

"I got it what?" she muttered eyes flashing with barely controlled rage

"I got it sir!" Snake cried. Yang tugged his hair once more so that his face was level with her's

"Now, you are going to tell me exactly where your gang has taken Weiss Schnee, and if I think for one Goddess forsaken second that you are lying to me….well" Yang let go of his hair and instead reached down to lock Snake's groin area in her death grip causing the grown man to let out a high pitched yelp as his eyes silently begged his captor for mercy, but it appeared she had none to spare him at the moment for she continued with that same dangerous smirk.

"Let's just say me ripping out your hair will be the very least of your worries."

_Romans Lab several hours later_

Weiss awoke to white hot pain which seem to radiate from every part of her body. Yet she dared not to let out the groan of pain that bubbled in the back of her throat begging to be let lose, she had learned her lesson after Roman had removed the ring finger on her left hand with a hot metal spike. Looking down at her hand she wanted to throw up, what had once been a beautiful thin knuckled hand was now a three fingered abomination which Roman had _kindly _wrapped in gauze saying he wouldn't want her bleeding out on him_. _Her right hand had thankfully been left alone.

Glancing down at her chest she cringed, cutting her open along her collar bone Roman had said he wanted to test the healing properties of dust on its own so he had gone about pouring a decent amount of flame dust along the cut. The result was an angry red scar that ran across the length of her chest marring her once beautiful completion. The pain of the flame upon her skin had been so great that it had sent her into the blissful darkness of unconsciousness.

Glancing around the room she realized she was alone and breathed a sigh of relief as she lay back down. Against the cold steel table that had become her prison.

_Fuck, how did everything go so wrong? _She thought miserably as she set her aura to the task of sealing the holes in her left hand where her fingers had been. Just twenty-four hours ago she had been safe in her dorm room with Ruby by her side and now, now she was the captive of a lunatic. At least Ruby was safe that was what was important and hey they even captured that Snake guy…wait.

Weiss bolted into a sitting position, Roman had undid the restraints telling her if she could even make it to the door considering the shape that she was in that he would be very impressed, disregarding the pain Weiss stared horrified at the wall across form her as realization sunk in.

Roman hadn't even tried to save Snake, or even silence him for that matter.

_I'm bait. I've got to do something, but what?! I-I cannot let them die for me, there's got to be something I can do. Come on Weiss think! ._ It was at the end of these thoughts that her gaze fell upon the six syringes full of refined dust that sat upon the counter across the room, which Roman had placed there as a way to taunt her with her inevitable fate, and a plan began to form in her mind.

"This…." She muttered "This is going to hurt, a lot"

_Baldemar residence_

"That is all I know sir, I swear!" Snake screamed desperately as Yang dropped him to the ground, his faced a bloody and unrecognizable pulp.

Yang nodded to Baldemar who quickly ran up his basement stairs to prepare the others for their immediate departure to White Castle via the shuttle that Yang had piloted from Beacon.

Meanwhile Yang paced around the crumpled man cracking her knuckles which were already wet and slick with the goons blood. From what he had told her this Roman guy was hell bent on torturing Weiss to the brink of death then he was going to pump her full of the purest dust in the world in order to test its "Healing Properties".

Yang glanced down at the goon with disgust as she kicked him over so that he was lying on his back looking up at her through his swollen eye. This bastard was an accomplice to at least a dozen disappearances in the last year. All young girls, all subjected to Romans experiments, and if what the goon said was true each and every one of them had died very painful very horrible deaths as their bodies began to decay from the inside out.

Yang knelt down next to him, activating Ember Celica as she did so, and prepared to finish him off. Anger flooded her and sparks began to appear around her as her semblance started to activate do to her rage. She roughly grabbed the man by the scruff of his collar and lifted him off the ground, her other fist posed for action as she spoke, fury and hate clear in her voice

"This is what you deserve, I wouldn't bother begging for mercy."

Even if Snake had wanted to beg for mercy he never got the chance.

_**AUTHORS NOTE: Well that is it for Chapter 12 Everybody! Were about to reach the climax of our little story, we only have 2 chapters left! 3 if I can't get everything I want into chapter 14 anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the story, this was my first try at writing torture so sorry if it's a but weird, and please leave me a review and let me know what you thought! Special thanks to **_

_**Big Z1776**_

_**Ganers13**_

_**Rargle-fargle**_

_**RatedRSupterStar87**_

_**Byjinn**_

_**Roxas. **_

_**Elfenlied1012**_

_**For their wonderful reviews of last chapter! You guys Rock! Alright that's it for me, Oh one final thing I am putting both My final Judgment day and Love N' Stuff on hold so I can try and get this story complete by thanksgiving (Hopefully) Alrighty that's it , Goodnight and Blessed Be!**_

_**~Crystal **_


	13. Chapter 13

Dear readers,

I am not surprised by many of your reaction to the most recent chapter of Roses and Ice. I knew it was a risk going in writing a torture scene however if you would I would like to offer up what explanation I can without ruining the ending, which I shall be writing later today and posting this weekend,.. First and for most while Roses and Ice has been a fluffy Romance up until this point there have been several sections where darkness and evil is a theme, for example my description of Arias death which I thought was far worse than any torture, in essence I never intended Roses and Ice to be without that darkness. This story is about overcoming Darkness, at the end of the last chapter Roman had taken Weiss captive and obviously hand very evil intentions for her, I found myself presented with two options, skip the description of the torture and lose some character development for Roman, which I would have to jam in the final chapter, or include the torture in order to give the reader a sense of just how evil and twisted my Roman was as well show that despite it all Weiss will still try and save her friends regardless of how much it will hurt or damage her. Obviously I went with the latter. Now I understand your frustration so allow to me reassure you that this is the only graphic torture scene I have planned in anything I have written for any of my current fanfics, if you would still like to read something much lighter and fluffier I would recommend Love n Stuff and My final Judgment day (Skip chapter 1). Now I would like to conclude with this, if you want to read the chapter for what it is thank you for giving it a chance. However if Torture is not something you want to read you can skip chapter 12 entirely when the real chapter 13 comes out. I apologize to the readers that have left this story due to my "ruining" it for them.

Thank you for coming this far

~Crystal Essence

P.S if this wasn't adequate enough please feel free to PM me and I shall discuss in full why I felt Weiss had to be tortured, however these include story spoilers so I will not discuss them here.


	14. Chapter 13A

_I May Fall _

Theme of the chapter: I May Fall by Jeff Williams featuring Casey lee Williams and Lamar Hall

The frozen tendrils of the north wind whipped by, stinging Ruby's face as she stared out of the shuttle and into the snow flurries that seemed to stretch on forever into the darkness. She ignored the stinging in her face however as she was far too concerned with the worry that plagued her heart.

_Goddess please, please let Weiss be okay_

She prayed silently as another gust of wind shook the shuttle. The sudden movement elicited a murmured curse from her sister who had been desperately fighting supremacy over the controls of their shuttle ever since they entered the fabled White Mountain range, the home to the equally fabled White Castle.

Her sister seemed inflamed by something. After coming out of Baldemar's basement, wiping blood off of her weapons, her eyes had never reverted to their natural lavender pigment. Instead they remained the same crimson red that Ruby had come to associate with the side of Yang that she had once remarked as being psycho.

"Ruby you're going to want to be ready" She heard her uncle call to her over the rushing wind from his position near the back of the shuttle, battle-axe held tightly in his grip. "Were almost there"

Ruby nodded and adjusted the hem of her combat skirt, confident at least that if there was to be a fight she would be able to give her all without being hindered by clothing. Ruby swallowed her fear as the tall, twisted, spires of the abandoned White Castle came into view. For the most part the place look deserted, however Ruby quickly realized this was not true for in the courtyard there was movement. A lot of movement

"Yang, are those…?" She called out nervously as she turned towards the cockpit, Yang glanced back at her face grim before replying.

"Beowulves, a lot of Beowulves."

Nodding, Ruby turned back to the open hatch and gazed down into the mass of black that swarmed beneath the shuttle as it hovered 50 feet above the courtyard. She gave an involuntary shiver, she had never seen so many creatures of Grimm in one place before. Even the pack that had assaulted her near her mother's grave several winters ago hadn't been this big.

"How long until we get back up Yang?" Blake said from her spot in the copilot's seat, her face a fixated mask of worry as she spoke. Yang glanced at her then pulled out her scroll so that she could check the reply to the S.O.S she had sent out to Ozpin just before they left Aquarius. Typing a message to Ozpin into the display, the reply came after a few moments.

"Ozpin says Professor Good witch and JNPR is about 40 minutes out tops due to the weather conditions" Yang said looking up to meet Blake's eyes " He says medical teams and Local law enforcement are at least ten to fifteen minutes behind them, until that time were to secure a landing zone and await reinforcements"

Ruby locked eyes with Yang, red and silver meeting as a spark of understanding transferred between them, Weiss might not have another forty minutes. Yang nodded hesitantly before saying quietly.

"Go get em sis"

Without another word Ruby jumped out into the night air. The ground, and more importantly the mass of Beowulf's, seemed to rush towards her at a frightening pace. However as she fell time seemed to slow. Ruby's heart thumped loudly in her ears as she reached behind her back and pulled out Crescent Rose. She took aim at the nearest creature of Grimm and pulled the trigger and Crescent Rose barked to life.

The monstrous being exploded into a fountain of blood as a loud crack echoed across the surrounding mountain range. Ruby allowed the recoil to spin her around, activating her weapons scythe function while she did so. Ruby fired shot after shot from her weapon in order to keep up her momentum. Losing herself in the fight Ruby allowed herself to become a spinning vortex of death as she cut through dozens of Beowulves that where unfortunate enough to come between her and the center of the pack.

Suddenly Ruby twisted, shifting the momentum of her fall. She then proceeded to slam Crescent Rose down, through a Beowulf and into the cracked stone that made up the ground of the courtyard. Ruby landed atop the handle of her weapon with little difficulty and stood to stare with cold determination at the remaining Beowulves. She had thinned their numbers however from where she stood there had to be at least a hundred more, with more pouring out of the dens that appeared to line the outer walls of the courtyard.

_That's incredible Ruby_ thought astonished _using the Grimm as a natural deterrent to trespassers _she had never heard of such a thing in all of her years of study. Ruby had to admit it as rather genius, why try to hire as many guards as you could to protect your home. Guards whose loyalties could be questionable. When instead of Guards you can set up monsters, who would rip apart absolutely anyone and everything their path, in your front yard?

"Look out below!"

Ruby's head shot up to into the blizzard above her to look for the source of the voice. She saw nothing for a moment but then out of the darkness came Baldemar, wielding his prized battle axe high above his head. Ruby watched in fascination as he fell from the sky like a stone, a boulder of human flesh which used the bodies of several unfortunate Grimm to break his fall.

The Beowulves around his crash site didn't have a prayer as the large man stood, swinging his axe in a horizontal arc which severed the heads of the Beowulves that where within is reach. Those of them he hadn't killed immediately paused for a moment before launching themselves at the large man. With a laugh Baldemar brought his might axe down into the bodies of a pair of Beowulves and with a crack of his knuckles he began to combat the beasts with weapons that where very reminiscent of a certain Golden haired brawler that Ruby knew so well.

Realizing that she should probably help her Uncle Ruby jumped down so that she was laying along the length of her weapon. With a smirk she pulled the trigger and launched herself towards the concentration of Grimm that surrounded her Uncle. It wasn't long before the two were fighting back, piling the corpses of their foes high around them. Ruby took this moment to give her Uncle a wry look.

"Not bad for an old man" she called out, slicing another pair of Beowulves in half.

This caused Baldemar to roar with laughter as he fired a round of shotgun blasts into a Beowulf that had tried to flank him. He glanced at his niece and gave her a warm smile before he replied.

"Lassie I've been killing Grimm since long before you were but a twinkle in yer father's eye"

Before Ruby could reply the sounds of a shuttle craft landing caught the attention of them both. Looking past the wall of Grimm Ruby watched as Yang and Blake burst forth from the confines of the shuttle and rush towards them, both prepared for a fight, unfortunately by the time they reached the duo there were no Grimm left to fight.

"Oh Come on!" Yang cried exasperated. Ruby took great comfort in the fact that her sisters eyes had once again returned to their normal shade of lavender. However the thing that startled Ruby was that her sister's face was in a position that one would consider and extreme pout.

"Ruuby! Did you have to kill them all?" Yang whined as she and Blake took in the massive amount of dead Grimm that surrounded them. Yang took her sister by her shoulders and looked at her with large puppy dog like eyes, which made Blake sigh with annoyance, before she continued

"I mean couldn't you have at least left a pup for me?" at this Ruby couldn't help but roll her eyes at her sisters antics. However now that the battle was over her thought's returned to Weiss and that now familiar worry and fear settled into her gut once more as the adrenaline wore off. Ruby looked at her sis as the color began to drain from her face.

Yang was quick to notice the change of her sister's demeanor and nodded in understanding. Giving Ruby's arm a reassuring squeeze she leaned forward to whisper simply

"It's alright, were going to get Weiss out of here" Ruby blinked tears out of her eyes and forced a weak smile on her face as she nodded. Then Yang turned to their companions and with confidence seeming to radiate off her in waves she gave a nod of ascent and together the group began to sprint towards the great Iron doors of White Castle

_Inside Romans Lab_

Roman had returned. However this time he didn't seem to have any intention of continuing their "playtime" instead he had quickly ran in, crossed the room away from where Weiss lay, and retrieved several vials before rushing back out the doors and up the steps that ran up into the castle proper.

'_Damnit, so close' _Weiss thought angrily as she allowed her body to relax from its tense state. Ever since she had come up with her daring plan she had been praying that Roman would come just within her reach. Then it would all be over and her friends wouldn't have to face this mad man.

Then out of nowhere he was back in the room with her and before Weiss could think to react he was standing over her, a manic smile plastered on his face as he spoke.

"Looks like your friends are here to join the party Princess." He chuckled darkly as he grabbed a hold of her face with his large hand and brought her face within inches of his own

"I am going see how they deal with my giant armor, you remember him don't you? Oh yes I can see in your eyes that you do and when I return were going to finish what we started, but hey if you're a good girl maybe ill bring you back a friend. Oh how about that Ruby girl?" at this Weiss's eyes widened in horror, which Roman was quick to notice.

"Hahaha well then Red it is! Be back in a jiffy try not to miss me too much!" And with that He roughly released her face and walked out of the room laughing as he did so.

Weiss shuddered. She was too late, looking down at the syringe of Ice dust that she held in her hand she felt useless. He had been inches from her. Inches! Yet instead of stabbing the bastard, like she had planned to, she had let him walk out to shock by his statement to do anything. She held the syringe in a death grip with her good hand as she tried to think of something, anything that she could do to stop him. Then the solution hit her.

Looking down at the syringe she realized that it was her only hope. She only needed a little of it, perhaps that small amount wouldn't be enough to kill her however Weiss knew that unless one knew the exact measurements then injecting pure dust into one's body without medical help nearby was suicidal. However a large crash from somewhere in the castle above her strengthened her resolve.

Weiss moved the arm with the ruined hand so that the palm was facing up towards the ceiling. Looking at the syringe the needle seemed to glint menacingly with the promise of death and worse the promise of the deaths of her friends, if she injected too much. Perhaps most of all though the needle seemed to promise her that if she continued to sit there and do nothing than she would allow the one she loved to die at the hands of Roman Torchwick.

With a deep breath Weiss pressed the needle into her arm and began to inject a quarter of the hauntingly white contents into her body.

_White Castle interior several minutes earlier. _

Ruby gave out a huff of annoyance and frustration as she brought down her scythe in another killing arc against another one of Romans guards. Ever since their group had entered the castle they had been besieged by seemingly endless ranks of Romans' personal guard. Apparently Ruby's earlier assumption of him only having Grimm instead of Guards had been wrong, it would seem that Roman had gone all out and placed both creatures of Grimm as well as Human Guards in the castle as a means of defense against invaders.

_Thankfully _Ruby mused as she cut down yet another guard who was trying to get a shot in on her sister. Her sister gave her a wave of appreciation before turning back to the guard she had been fighting. Ruby for her part returned to her musings as she looked desperately around the dilapidated room that the stood in.

_They're not nearly as dangerous as the grim, perhaps a bit more persistent but definitely not as tough to kill. Okay…now, according to Yang that Snake guy said the entrance to Romans laboratory should be beneath where the throne once stood._

Glancing around at the room with its wide arches and giant glass windows Ruby had to admit that of all the rooms they had been they had fought in so far this one looked like their best bet at being the throne room. The large engraving outside which Blake had translated as being German for throne room kind of helped with that assumption but hey they were in the home of a psychopath, who knew what kinds of thing he had done to throw them off his trail?

It was when Ruby was knocking out several of the guards at once that she saw him. There was no mistaking that flash of orange hair that appeared near the back of the hall nor that long white coat and cane that Ruby had come to associate with the monster. Ruby ran across the hall as fast as her legs were able to carry her, hoping to catch him off guard and end this once and for all.

Unfortunately for her Roman seemed to have expected this and with a smirk he raised his cane so that it was pointing directly at her.

"End of the line Red." He said as he fired.

Ruby never had a chance, the blast itself knocked her completely off her feet and painfully on to her back. Worse it sent Crescent Rose spinning off into the far corner of the room. The whole room seemed to still at this interaction even Ruby's companions stopped what they were doing. Yang stopped pummeling one of Romans guards, Blake stood from the body of the guard she had just knocked unconscious, and Baldemar dropped the two guards that he had been crushing in his grip.

Roman gave them all a pleasant smile as he began to speak

"Well I have to give it to you all you are a persistent bunch, especially you Red! However I am afraid that you've over stayed your welcome in my home and for that I am going to have to insist that you all get the hell out" Roman waited a beat but when none of them moved he merely chuckled.

"Fine have it your way" He said as he gestured to the far corner of the room, at that moment a giant suit of armor that had been set up against the far wall began to stir with an unnatural aura. Then suddenly they began to move, slowly at first but soon gaining momentum as the rushed to the center of the room.

Yang, seeing that they were heading towards her sister, tried to intervene however when she got within striking distance the armor it merely smacked her away as one would a fly. The bone crushing blow sent Yang flying towards the far wall, just as she was about to impact however Blake jumped up and snatched her body out of the air.

Baldemar roared with anger at seeing his niece hurt and swiftly ran towards the giant armor, axe held high. The armor swung his mighty sword at him. Baldemar dodged the blow and quickly ambled behind the armor where he proceeded to climb the monstrosities back. Once in a position upon the armors back Baldemar swung his axe with his might into the faceplate of the beast.

An unearthly howl filled the hall as the armor clutched desperately at his assailant to no avail. The Armor with Baldemar attached stumbled backwards, towards the giant window that overlooked a massive snow covered canyon. Yang jumped out of Blake's arms and to her feet to shout a warning to her uncle but it was far too late. Man and beast tumbled through the window into the blizzard.

Roman for his part merely clucked his tongue in disgust as he walked over to where Ruby lay, still dazed from Romans previous attack. Standing over her gave her a small shrug of his shoulders as he said.

"Good help is so hard to come by these days, I had intended to kill your friends and make you my next test subject but I think you've proven to be far too troublesome well " He pointed his cane at Ruby's face and gave her a small smile "Nighty night Red" Yang screamed as he pulled the trigger.

Ruby awaited her death but…it never came. The cane gun did go off there was no doubt about that, if Ruby's ringing ears were to be believed. However no blackness came, no light at the end of the tunnel, in fact there wasn't any tunnel to speak of. Hesitantly she opened one of her eyes and felt her heart stop at the sight that greeted her.

White glyphs surrounded a bullet that hovered a mere inch from Ruby's face. Then the glyphs shifted to a brilliant red and the bullet disintegrated before her eyes. Roman looked down at her, his arms being held out away from his body by similar white glyphs. Familiar looking glyphs. It was then that a voice called out to her from behind Roman, a voice that Ruby had been uncertain that she would ever hear again.

"You really didn't have to go to all this trouble"

Tears welled in Ruby's eyes as she jumped to her feet and ran past Roman, her heart beating like a kick drum in her chest as she laid eyes on Weiss. Then her Heart stopped. Weiss was a mess. The heiress had at least a dozen different scares, all of which Ruby had never seen before, that ran up and down the length of her body, that she had tried to cover with a dirty lab coat, and in her outstretched hand she noticed that at least one of her fingers covered in mangled scaring

"Oh…Oh Weiss" Ruby mumbled as tears began to flow down her face as her heart shattered, she made a move towards Weiss intending on wrapping her into her embrace but the Heiress held up a hand to stop her.

"One moment Love I need to have a _chat_ with our host" the tone of her voice was enough to make Ruby stop in her tracks. Ruby had never heard her speak with such unbridled hatred in her voice, however Ruby nodded and proceeded to step out of Weiss's way while still remaining protectively close to the battered girl.

Weiss walked up to Romans back and used her glyphs to spin him around so that he faced her. Terror filled eyes had since been replaced with a manic fascination as he spoke excitedly to Weiss.

"Ohoho you injected yourself didn't you?! It's the only plausible explanation for the regeneration of your hand! Best of all you're not deformed in any way, well besides the scars and the fingers but you can't hope for everything can you? Somehow you must of injected just the right amount to avoid decay! What a stroke of luck! You must tell me the exact amount that you inject-urk!"

Roman's speech was cut short as Weiss plunged the syringe filled with the rest of the Ice dust into his chest. Weiss watched his eyes return to horrified globes as she depressed the plunger, emptying remaining contents directly into his heart. Ruby watched on horrified as Romans body began to decay in front of her very eyes. Weiss gave and involuntary shudder as Roman tried to scream but instead all that came out of his mouth where the putrefied black ooze like remains that had once been his vocal cords.

"I may fall one day but it's not going to be today and it is not going to be by your hand" Weiss whispered her tone icy as she used her glyphs to fling Romans body out of the broken window and into the night.

Then she turned to Ruby, eyes watering as she collapsed into her arms and began to sob. Ruby felt herself sink to the floor with her girlfriend as she held her tight against her breast. Ignoring all else, including the arrival of the JNPR shuttle through the broken window.

The world around them fell into a chaos of shouted orders from Professor Goodwitch as JNPR along with Yang and Blake subdued the remainder of Romans men, however the two girls seemed oblivious to this. Ruby reached a hand around her and began to stroke Weiss's bloody and matted hair as she reassuringly whispered the words that made Weiss cry even hard with relief and love for the girl who held her.

"You did it Weiss, You won. It's time to stop fighting I'm here now and I am never going anywhere"

_**Authors Note; And so concludes the climax of our tale. Don't threat there is just one more chapter coming where I shall bring this story to its closure that chapter will be out before thanksgiving. Now moving on from that I want to take a moment ( and be prepared I shall probably reiterate this in the final chapters note) and say what a pleasure it's been writing this story. I honestly not in a million years thought my first fic would be enjoyed by so many people and for that I am incredibly grateful to each and every one of you. I hope sincerely you enjoyed this chapter and this story, please leave me a review and let me know what you thought! Also if you had any big questions regarding Weiss's regeneration or the like please let me know and ill be sure to answer you! Thank you and Blessed Be **_

_**Sincerely yours **_

_**~Crystal Essence **_

_**P.S thanks to everyone Who reviewed last chapter! **_


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